Paranormal Meltdown
by A Scribbler
Summary: After the events of An Adventure of my Own, OC POV: a new girl, Lydia, starts the class and Dib, Zim and I notice that there's somthing strange about her? But what? We find out, in the shape of a certain ghost with the most! Let the havoc begin... again!
1. New Student

**Please Read:**

**Hello, this is a sort of sequel taking place almost two years after the events of my other story "An Adventure of my Own". It is once again from my POV and nothing much has changed. This is my first crossover story and also the first crossover story between Invader Zim and Beetlejuice. Please go easy on me and I hope you like it. **

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"So as you can see, by modifying the visuals we'll be able to get a much higher quality on the visuals at Zims house." Dib finished explaining as he packed up his diagrams and folders.

I nodded, "And it is just his equipment you want to get pictures of, right?"

He groaned. It had been almost two years since I had moved into the neighbourhood and made my decision that I would not help Dib to expose Zim as an alien, but also help Dib to stop Zim from world domination. Like I had explained before, I was on GIR's side, in the middle and friends with both. However, that had never stopped them from trying to convince me otherwise. For example, Dib right now was trying to get me to let him get visual evidence of Zim as an alien to show to the Swollen Eyeballs. I however was not giving in, the equipment was fine, but not Zim, I didn't want one of my friends on some lab table having his guts pulled out! I looked at Dib in the eyes and smiled sweetly, it was a little trick I used when necessary.

"Fine." Dib gave in, stuffing his things into his bag, "So I'll see you at skool tomorrow right?"

"Yep, and I'll bring those copies of Paranormal Weekly I found in the charity shop." I promised.

He nodded and waved as he left my house. I stared after him for a moment and found myself smiling. I jumped as my mum walked swiftly into the room from behind me.

"Dib gone?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think I'm heading around his after skool tomorrow."

She sat down next to me and looked meaningfully at me, "Amy, have you ever thought that maybe, you're spending a little too much time with Dib, and Zim some days too." She continued when I arched my brow questioningly, "I mean, why not try and find some… normal friends, like, try and find a couple of nice girls to hang around with for a bit of girly time."

"It's fine, plus, all the girls in my skool are really horrible most of the time, plus I already have a girl for a friend, Gaz." I reminded her of Dibs sister.

"I mean your own age."

"She's only a year younger than me. Where's this coming from?" I asked, anxiously.

She sighed and shook her head, "It's nothing. Now, you know I like your friends but I'm just worried that you're hanging around with the wrong crowd, the… odd crowd, that's all."

I had to admit that from her point of view, we were a weird bunch. I was the foreign British chick that was still pretty new in the town, Dib was the eccentric paranormal nut who often came across as pushy or slightly 'unstable' and his sarcastic, scary little sister Gaz then occasionally there was Zim, the loud, slightly sadistic kid with a green 'skin condition' and green dog to match. Okay, so I knew exactly where she was coming from. We were odd. But…

"Everyone's a little bit odd, mum, it just makes life a bit more interesting." I smiled, "Plus, they may be strange but... they're the best friends I've had."

Knowing that she was fighting a loosing battle, she nodded and returned to whatever it was she had been doing before she came along. I sighed and went up to my room, collapsing onto my bed. I sighed, okay, I admit that I did miss the girly talk and shopping trips with my friends from Wales, but in hindsight, going on alien adventures and saving the world and researching the paranormal with Dib and Zim was so much more fun.

I suddenly felt like I was being watched, I sat upright and peered out of my window over at the house next door. It was different from the other houses in the street, and in the window facing mine, a pair of electric blue eyes stared over at me. The little stitch-like mouth beneath them grinned wildly and it's arms starting waving at me. I grinned and waved back at GIR, laughing as a larger figure with dark pink eyes and green skin wrestled him to the floor out of sight. The figure returned and glared out at me. I continued to wave and mouthed a 'hello' at Zim, who nodded curtly in acknowledgment and then shut the curtains. I laughed and returned to laying on the bed.

Yeah, I wouldn't change this for anything, yet, mums words were starting to eat at me. Maybe I did need a little girl time for a bit. But the problem was that all the girls in skool were either really rude and stuck up, or they were (without me sounding mean) totally ignorant to anything around them. I wasn't a high maintenance person and was rarely judgmental, but I'd been at that skool long enough to know that I wasn't going to be able to get along with any of the girls there.

The next morning, I pulled my rucksack up onto my shoulders and headed over to Zims house, I often called for him in the morning before skool and occasionally walked home with him. I wasn't sure if he was okay with this, but I wasn't his enemy, so where was the harm? I skilfully edged around the evil gnomes in the front garden and knocked on the door. A dog-suited GIR answered and instantly jumped into my arms.

"AMY-CAKES!" he cried, nuzzling into my neck.

"Hey GIR," I smiled at the nickname, the first time we met I had given him a cake, the name stuck ever since, "is Zim ready?"

He nodded and scrambled out of my grip and into the house, I followed and walked in just in time to see Zim slipping his contact lenses into his eyes. I shuddered, I was always grossed out by the little _squelch _sound that happened whenever he put them in. He arched his brow at me and folded his arms expectantly.

"Ready for skool?" I asked.

"Zim shall be ready when ZIM is ready, human!" he snapped, there was a pause and he then stormed past me and out the door, "Zim is now ready."

"_Ahem!_" I called, picking up a black furry object from the floor and dangled it in the air.

Zim turned around and saw what I was doing. He cried out in horror and sprinted back into the safety of the house, gloved hands covering his bare head. He snatched the wig from my hands and placed it onto his head. I chewed the side of my mouth to stop myself from laughing, he glared at me and composed himself as if nothing had happened and then walked back out of the house. This time with me following.

"So how was the squid-muffin experiment?" I asked, remembering him boasting how it would be the next step in his world conquest plans, don't ask, I have no idea…

"Oh such a success it was! But, thinking about it, Zim had more clever plans to carry out, squid-muffins would only have made it too easy." His eyes darted nervously.

"Fair enough." I smirked, in other words, it had backfired and that was the reason there were screams of fear and agony coming from underground the other day, "And they are…?"

"Classified!" he yelled, making me jump, "They are so classified that even the almighty ZIM does not know them yet!"

My smirk widened as I nodded in understanding. He seemed satisfied. He did make me laugh from time to time, even when he didn't mean to. We reached skool and we entered the classroom together. He took his seat by the door while I took mine next to Dib by the window. He smiled at my arrival and I returned the gesture. I was about to reach into my bag to hand him the paranormal magazines I had promised when Ms. Bitters slithered snake-like behind her desk and called for attention. I had to admit that I was less than pleased when I found out that she was going to be teaching us again after two years…

"Class, marking the anniversary of classroom over-crowding, we have been given a new student. This is Lydia Deetz."

She growled, moving aside to reveal a thin, pale girl with a shoulder length black hair and dark make-up around her eyes, a spider shaped badge clung to her jacket. Lydia smiled shyly at the class and gave a little wave. I smiled back. I remembered being the new kid and having to feel the burn of every eye in the class glaring at you.

"Now, let's see…" Ms. Bitters continued, her finger travelling around the class, "You're face it getting too familiar, to the underground classroom with you!"

The girl who I'd never really spoken to but sat behind me shrieked as the floor beneath her vanished, sending her plummeting into darkness. Both me and Lydia jolted in panic; I'd never seen anything like that in the classroom before! I turned to stare at Dib questioningly, he shrugged and quirked his eyebrow as if to say, 'I know, but it's what happens around here'. Lydia nervously took her seat behind me, I turned to smile welcomingly, thankfully, she returned the gesture. I turned back around and glared at Dib, raising my eyebrows hinting that he should do the same. He tilted his head in confusion and then shrugged, turning around slightly and waving at her shyly. She nodded at him with a smile. Dib looked at me as if to say 'happy now?' and returned to his work. I rolled my eyes, poor girl…


	2. Not the Strangest Thing?

Me and Dib joined Gaz at our usual table in the cafeteria near the back. I was just handing over the paranormal magazines when I noticed the new girl holding her lunch tray searching for a place too sit. I felt all too sympathetic towards her, I remembered when that was me. Hey, she was even getting the same shunning glances from our peers. I turned to Dib and Gaz.

"What do you say to letting the new girl sit with us?"

Gaz shrugged, "If she can help you with stopping Dib from rambling to be about everything, go ahead."

"Hey, I do not ramble! Well, sometimes, but that's not the point!" he looked over at Lydia, "I guess, but why?"

"Well, remember when I was the new kid, you invited me to sit with you."

"Because he caught you talking to Zim." Gaz pointed out, never looking up from her game screen.

"That's not true either, Gaz." Dib muttered, "Sure, why not."

I smiled and got to my feet. As I approached her, I noticed that she was whispering out of the corner of her mouth, but I couldn't catch what she was saying, and I was positive that there was no one there that she was talking to. I ignored this, Dib spoke to himself all the time and let's be honest, it wasn't the strangest thing I'd seen that year.

"Um, hi." I started, making her spin around and blush as she nearly spilt her food, "Sorry! Um, me and my friends over there were wondering if you wanted to join us."

Her eyed brightened, "Yeah, thanks, that'd be great." Her voice was cheerful and had a hint of a laughter to it.

"_Jackpot, babes!_"

I turned back to face her, I was positive that I'd heard a second voice oddly near by. It was lower and a bit growlish, but I definitely heard something. She smiled nervously.

"Pardon, sorry?" I asked.

"Hmmm? Oh, I didn't say anything." She insisted.

I could tell that she was lying. Her eyes were unnaturally wide and her pale skin was flushing. But because I didn't want to make her feel anymore awkward on her first day I chose to let it go, nodding and leading her over to the table. I introduced myself along with Dib and Gaz. Gaz nodded in acknowledgment and Dib stood up to shake her hand. Lydia introduced herself and explained that her and her family had recently moved out here from the countryside. As we ate, I wondered how long exactly it was going to be before Dib started asking –

"So the countryside, did you happen to come by any crop circles or anything out of the ordinary? Aliens, stuff like that?"

I smacked my palm to my forehead, "Give her a chance to finish her food first!" I joked.

However, Lydia smiled, "Well, not crop circles, but the area I'm from was quite famous for its ghost legends. Some days it felt like my house was crawling with spirits." She had a dazed look in her eye as if she was remembering something, "But no aliens, do you get those around here then?"

"Oh you have no idea…" I smirked.

Dib sighed and eyed Lydia sceptically, "Please tell me you've noticed the green kid in out class?"

"Well yeah, but I didn't like to stare, plus… it's not the strangest thing I've seen." She shrugged, "So he's an alien?"

Dib's eyes practically bulged out of his head, "YES! His name's Zim and he's from a planet called Irk and he's here trying to invade Earth!"

Dib was off, barely taking a breath and not pausing for a moment. Oh great, she was getting scared, I could tell. I smiled apologetically during his rant. It took a while before he was reeled off every piece of information he knew about Zim. All the while, I noticed that Lydia kept glancing to her side at something that I couldn't see. I chewed my lip in suspicion. However, we were all snapped back to the present by a large tray filled with food smacking Dib full in the face sending him thrown backwards onto the floor. Zim jumped out of nowhere and pointed accusingly at Dib.

"Spreading your lies filthy earth-scum?" he cried, then noticed Lydia staring at him, "Uh, I mean, spreading your lies _fellow_ filthy earth-scum?"

"That was a bit harsh Zim!" I snapped, rushing to help Dib to his feet and I gave my briefest of introductions, "Zim, Lydia, Lydia, Zim."

Lydia smiled and held out a hand to shake Zim's, "Nice to meet a visitor from another planet." She said cheerfully.

"Well it's nice to finally get a proper greeting worthy of an invader such as – WAIT!" he snatched his hand away and darted his eyes anxiously at his mistake, "I mean… I AM NORMAL!"

I rolled my eyes, "As normal as your going to be…"

He glared at me, to which I gave one of my signature grins. Dib brushed himself off and grabbed his water bottle, splashing the contents over Zims front. There was a pause and then the horrible smell of burning skin and the sound of sizzling beneath his clothes. He screamed in agony and ran from the room.

"Victory for Earth!" Dib cried after Zim.

All the while, Lydia was muttering something out of the corner of her mouth. Who was she talking to? I couldn't make out a word. She noticed me glancing at her and chuckled nervously.

"So, aliens, paranormal investigations… is it always like this here?"

I sighed and gently placed a hand on her shoulder, "You get used to it. I've gotta say, you're pretty accepting of this, normally people just ignore it or something like that."

Lydia smiled, "Like I said, it's not the strangest thing I've seen or heard, plus where I'm from, things like this, you get used to it."

I could have sworn I heard a chuckle behind my ear, I turned, but there was nothing there. I knew that Dib had heard it too because he had tilted his head to look over my shoulder. Lydia cleared her throat and starting asking about our research, was she trying to distract us?

Lydia continued to sit with us throughout the rest of lunch and I had to admit, her knowledge on the paranormal was very impressive, however ghosts seemed to be her real speciality. She asked me questions too, about why position in this little saga that kept running everyday of out lives. I explained to her about me not choosing a side and how Dib and Zim had teamed up to save me. in honesty, I went a little over the top about Zim and Dib working together, but I wanted her to think it was fun being in the middle, I didn't want to scare her off after all.

But I still couldn't shake the feeling that although she was talking to us, occasionally there were times where it felt as though she was talking to someone else, and it was starting to get to me. It wasn't that she was irritating me or anything, but my curiosity was almost eating me alive. However, I held back, it was her first day and singling her out for something that was maybe my own imagination wasn't going to make her feel welcome. I'd give her a week or so and if she was still doing it, then maybe ask her. God that was going to kill me inside! Maybe mum was right, maybe I am spending too much time with Dib and Zim, I've been infected by their paranoia!


	3. Witchcraft? Or not

After skool I was packing up my things when Dib tapped my leg with his foot, I looked up curiously and he subtly flicked his head behind me towards Lydia. I peered around as secretively as I could and look at her out of the corner of my eye. She was scribbling something down on a scrap of paper and then pushing it to the side of her desk. Then she would pack a few things away, ear tilted to the side as if being told a silent secret, then returning to scribble on the paper again, repeating the process. I looked back at Dib, arching a brow.

"So, is it okay if I come and sit with you guys again tomorrow?" Lydia asked shyly.

Dib nodded and I answered with a "Sure, sounds good." She grinned and left the room. As she walked past, a small scrap of paper slipped from the side pocket of her bag and drifted to the floor. We waited until she was out of sight before Dib rushed to pick it up. He held it up for both of us to read. Her writing was delicate and loopy, even for quick scribbles.

_So will it work being in a different house?_

_I'll use the cloak, that normal makes the chant stronger, right?_

_Where am I going to get dung beetles from?_

_Well, it'll be dark so I'll have to light a few candles._

We exchanged glances, "Chants, beetles and candles?" I asked aloud.

Dib narrowed his eyes, "Well, from what I can remember, that's normally associated with certain spells. I'll have to check my old spell drives though…"

"You mean like witchcraft?" he nodded, my eyes widened, "But, she can't be a witch, right? I mean, this could mean anything and sure she was talking to herself but you do that all the time."

"Hey! Well, not as often as I used to!" he said, blushing slightly, "And come on, when have I been wrong about this kind of stuff?"

I counted on my fingers, "Well the time you thought that Big-Foot was locked in the supply closet, the time you were convinced that my sister had been infected by an alien disease, you claimed that your telescope was viewing an alien creature when it was a bug on the lens, then the most recent one where you thought that Zim had infected me with a mood-altering infection when I was just on… I'll forget that one," I don't know who was blushing more, me or him at the memory of that little episode, "and then there was the time you thought Ms. Bitters was a vampire."

"Hey that one was your idea!" he said defensively.

"Oh yeah…" I replied sheepishly, "Well, you believed me and that is yet to be proved wrong!"

He smirked at me and I blushed a little. I looked back at the paper, maybe we were reading too much into this. Witchcraft was just too much of an extreme assumption, witches didn't even exist! Well, maybe they didn't exist just like aliens didn't exist… Smooth one Amy, smooth…

We chose to discuss this some more back at Dibs house. We met up with Gaz and were about to leave skool grounds when I remembered that I had left my pencil case in the classroom. I told them to go on ahead and I'd catch up. I grumbled to myself, it looked like it was going to rain and I wanted to be inside a warm house when it happened. While in the classroom, I noticed that I wasn't alone. I span around and found Zim leaning over the class hamsters cage.

"What're you doing?" I asked, making him yelp in surprise.

"None of your business Amy-human!"

I shrugged, "How's your chest after the water incident?"

He prodded himself, "Repaired, no thanks to the Dib-filth!"

I looked out of the window and noticed the first few droplets of rain dotting the window. Zim's face flushed and he instinctively took a step backwards. That wasn't good. I reached into my bad and pulled out an umbrella, handing it to him. He eyed it suspiciously and then narrowed his eyes at me.

"You need it more than I do, my jackets got a hood anyway." I grinned, "By the way, did you notice anything… odd about the new girl, Lydia?"

He tapped his chin in thought, "Other than the dark circles around her eyes and unnaturally eagerness to believe the Dib? No. Why?"

I shrugged, "I don't know, she's nice enough but it's like she's hiding something. Dib thinks it's witchcraft, but I don't know…"

"Witch…craft? What is this witchcraft?"

"A person who uses magic and spells and stuff like that." I explained.

"Hmmm…"

"AMY!"

We both cried out in shock and jumped as Dib came sprinting into the classroom. He tripped over a desk and went tumbling to the ground, but he recovered into a forward roll and jumped back up to his feet, stopping inches from my face. I leaned backwards reflexively. Dib had that strange look in his wide eyes that he usually got when he made a breakthrough with his research or made a new 'discovery'. He waved a camera in my face.

"Amy, you'll never guess what! After you left, I saw Lydia, so I decided to follow her and see what she was up to, when all of a sudden, this… stuff happened! Look look I got it on camera!"

He started pressing buttons at random, Zim leaned over my shoulder in curiosity. However, the digital screen remained blank and motionless. Dib grunted in irritation and tried flipping the camera in different angles, pressing buttons more forcefully.

"Uh, Dib, the lens cap is on…" I muttered.

"What? Oh man!" he tried to unscrew the cap but it was on tight, he looked closer and noticed the dried, clear junk that was laced around it, someone had glued it together, "ZIM!"

"What? You dare to blame Zim?" Zim cried, "You insult me! I would have destroyed the device, not weakly tampered with it!"

They both glanced at me, "Hey I would never do that!"

"What was so important on there anyway?" Zim asked, poking the camera with his middle finger.

"None of your…" Dib started but then folded his arms at me, "You told him, didn't you?"

"It was a secret?" I asked, innocently while holding my hands behind my back and tilting me head.

He groaned and rolled his eyes while Zim chuckled, "Well, Lydia disappeared behind the skool, so I followed her and caught her talking to someone again, but I couldn't see them. So I crept in closer and then she started chanting something, and this big red cloak randomly showed up and then…" he trailed off.

I suddenly noted his damp coat and a few stray leaves in his head, I reached up and pulled a few loose, "You were spying from a tree weren't you and fell out?"

His face reddened, "Maybe… But my point is that she is a witch! She vanished after that!"

Zim arched his brow and folded his arms, I myself sound it a pretty hard story to believe. For one thing, why would she risk doing it so close to a public area, and what had she to gain from it? What had she been doing?

"You expect us to believe that?" Zim snapped.

"It's true! And I did have proof for it!" he argued.

"Look, why don't I go visit her at home and ask her about it?" I offered.

They both looked me like I was insane. To be honest, I didn't know why I offered, but I was curious and that was as good a reason as any. I wasn't ready to believe that Lydia was a witch, but neither was I ready to believe that she was normal either.

"It could be dangerous! And how do you plan on finding out where she lives?" Dib asked.

I glanced slyly at Zim, who shifted uneasily, "Come on Zim, I know you do background checks on everyone in class, she's no exception."

His evergreen face blushed, "And how did you know that?"

I shrugged, "Your computer needs fixing, it keeps sending stuff to me."

There was a glint in Dibs eye, but I subtly shook my head, hinting that we would talk about that later. Zim huffed and pulled out a screen from his PAK. He tapped in a few digits and scanned the screen. He held it out for me to take and I saw that he had loaded up a map leading to her house. Thankfully, it was only a ten minute walk from the skool.

"Okay, I'll head over now then." I nodded.

"Wait, what if it's dangerous?" Dib exclaimed, "Will you wear a camera and microphone just in case?"

"Uh… sure if it makes you feel better?" I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

Dib dived into his bag and pulled out a tiny camera that he clipped into my hair and a miniscule microphone/earpiece into my ear.

"Does _this _camera have a lens cap?" asked Zim, mockingly, Dib looked up to glare at him but Zim carried on, "Why do you have those on you anyway?"

"I was planning on using them next time I snuck into your base, but that'll have to wait, Space-boy."

I rolled my eyes as the two started bickering again. I was used to this by now. While they were arguing, I took that as my cue to leave, backing away slowly until I was out of the room and followed Zims screen that was leading me to Lydia. I felt a pang of guilt at the sneaky spying that I was about to carry out, but questions needed to be answered and if I didn't find anything, then I would just have to talk to Lydia properly privately.

It took a while for me to get used to the bleeping monitor in my hands, I had never been good with technology, that was more of Gaz' expertise. Finally, I arrived at a very classy looking bungalow with pure while walls and decorative brick work around the doors and windows, flowers were littered along the pathway. I found myself smiling at the picturesque quality to it. Then something caught my eye. There was a swift flicker of light from one of the windows at the side of the house. I tiptoes across the lawn and knelt down under the window ledge. I peered in and felt my eyes widen at the view before me.

Lydia stood in the centre of what I presumed was her bedroom, surrounded by candles. She wore a long black/grey dress and her black hair was pulled up into an extravagant style at the top of her head. She opened her mouth as if to say something. In order not to miss it, I tried my luck with the windows, I pushed it gently until it was open a crack, just enough for me to make out her words.

"We had a few close calls today, BJ. Maybe it would be best for you to stay in the Neitherworld while I'm at skool, it's too risky."

I couldn't see who she was talking to, but they answered, "Awe come on, babes, what's a few close shaves? And how long to I have to stay like this, you missed a perfectly bad visual joke there!"

"Just until I get some curtains put up and then you cans top being invisible, we don't want anyone seeing you, and if I know your jokes, it'll be coming around again soon." She chuckled.

Invisible? Was this some kind of demon or witch familiar?

"Hey babes, fancy a trip to the Neitherworld? I gotsa neat surprise planned!" the gruff voice sang.

Lydia rolled her eyes, "Sure why not…"

"Once, twice, three time's the charm, babes!"

Lydia took a deep breath and threw her arms in the air, "_Though I know I should be wary, still I venture someplace scary, ghostly haunting I turn loose! Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. BEETLEJUICE!"_

I camped my hands over my mouth to stop myself from screaming. All of the candles in the room burned up to about three feet, a whirlwind of light and cobwebs wrapped themselves around Lydia and a flash of light left her draped in a vibrant red cloak.

"It's show time!" the unseen person cried.

With one last flick of her arms, and a powerful cackle from the unseen voice, the room was empty. I wasn't sure how long it took me to breathe again, but I couldn't move. I prised my lips apart and whispered into the microphone.

"Dib, did you see that?" my voice was no more than a cracked mutter.

There was no answer, I whimpered because I wasn't really sure what else to do. Finally I managed to pick myself up and walk away, making my way to Dibs house. I was stuck in a daze all the way there. What exactly did I see? Nothing she had said had made sense. Who was this BJ? Where was a Neitherworld? Most of all… what on earth was a _Beetlejuice_?


	4. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice? BEETLEJUICE!

I knocked heavily on Dib's front door until someone finally answered. Although to my surprise, it was Zim. I paused in confusion before snapping myself back to reality and rushed inside. Zim flinched away from me as my clothes were still damp from the light rain. Dib sat on the sofa, looking irritated and glaring at Zim.

"Your equipment wasn't working but you'll never believe what I saw! And, why is Zim here?"

Dib folded his arms, "He followed me and Gaz home and forced himself in here demanding he be included in our witch hunt. As for the camera and microphone, you left before I could turn them on."

I blushed, "Sorry, but it was amazing! She had all candles in her room and was talking to someone called 'BJ', but I couldn't see them and they were talking about a 'Neitherworld'! Then she was chanting and then there was this cloak and flames and…"

I trailed off because I noticed that they were looking at me like I was insane. Thinking about it, it did sound insane, total off the rocker! However, Dib, despite his wide-eyed disbelief, had a slight smug quirk in the corner of his mouth.

"Okay, I believe you now…" I mumbled.

"So a human with power? Surely the idea is just absurd!" Zim snapped.

I rolled my eyes, "Seriously Zim, you didn't see it! Dib, what do you know about a Neitherworld or a Beetlejuice?"

Dib folded his arms and scratched his chin in thought, "I think a Neitherworld is like the in-between, a realm for restless spirits, but as for a -"

"A _Betelgeuse_ is a star consolation," Zim interrupted, not wanting to miss out on an opportunity to upstage Dib, "I flew past it many a time! One of my fellow invaders conquered a planet just to the right of there. Maybe you misheard them and they were talking about the star?"

It was possible, but I was positive about what I heard, "I don't know... There was a chant to go with it, but she said that name three times, really loudly, I don't think I misheard her…"

Dib smirked, "Sound's like me need to carry out a little… experiment."

I swallowed heavily as me and Zim exchanged uncomfortable glances.

"What if we were to research this tonight, and then tomorrow after skool, we try a chant of out own, see if we can summon this being and maybe even find out what's going on with Lydia! Amy, you'll have to chant because maybe it'll recognise a girl voice and link it to the witch, then we could capture that invisible friend of hers and -"

"Or… we could research it, and then _ask_ her in skool?" I offered, feeling a bit guilty for being so sneaky around Lydia when she really was a nice girl.

Zim poked me playfully in the shoulder, "Whatever happened to the Amy-worm who was in it for the adventure?"

A blush descended over me as Dib nodded in agreement. Well, I was well and truly stuck now, I spent most of my time trying to get these two to get along, and now they were both agreeing with each other about something. Sure it was at my expense, but… I sighed and stuck my tongue out and the pair of them and folded my arms childishly.

"Fine, we'll do it."

Our research that night pretty much went no-where. Dib ended up kicking Zim out after an hour when he caught him digging through his paranormal files. Not the he went quietly mind you, it took a fight which involved me diving in to separate them just as Gaz stormed in, grabbing Zim by the neck and dragging him backwards and out of sight. We heard the front door slam and then a cry of agony in the rain.

"Why doesn't he just use the umbrella I gave him?" I wondered aloud.

"Well, this is Zim…" Dib chuckled in victory.

I rolled my eyed and yawned, I looked at my watch and saw that it was getting late, "I'd better go, mum's probably wondering where I am. Hey, where's my bag?"

"Oh, here."

He reached under his bed and held out my bad for me to grab. As I took it, his hand lost some grip and his fingers brushed against mine. His face reddened and he quickly pulled away, I smiled a little and waved goodbye as I left the room. I didn't know what it was about Dib, but one minute he was his usual eccentric confident self and the next, he was like a shy little puppy. Then again, Zim was the same, one minute he was loud and a little self-centred, but the he could change and be very co-operative, but that was mostly when Gaz was around. I smirked, it was so obvious that Zim liked Gaz a little, I even managed to get a sort of confession from Gaz once, but I was sworn to secrecy. So what was up with Dib?

The next morning I followed through my usual routine before going next door to call for Zim. This time he answered the door and I jumped back in shock at the large green burn mark that covered the right side of his forehead.

"Why didn't you use the umbrella?" I cried, grabbing his head to get a closer look.

He swatted me away, "Insolent human! It's not from the sky water! It's from…"

He peered over his shoulder at GIR who had it hands on a cheese grater. A shudder passed over me, that was disgustingly unsettling. I had an idea. To his surprise, I placed my bag in his hands for him to hold while I fished out a few bits and pieces. I often little emergency supplies in my bad, with Dib and Zim around, it paid to be prepared. I pulled out a green felt-tip pen and a large plaster, or as the Americans call it, a band-aid. I coloured over the fleshy pink until it was all green around the same colour as Zim and then patched it over the wound. It looked a little better, at least now it wasn't raw and throbbing. I took my bag back and let Zim examine himself in a mirror, he nodded in satisfaction, the corner of his mouth twitched as he walked past me into the street without a think you. I didn't mind, I was used to it, that little hint of a smile was his version of appreciation and that was good enough for me.

Skool was so slow that day. Lydia came to sit with me, Dib and Gaz again, this time Zim even joined us, well, I say that, he actually used his spy camera with a long tube as a lens to snake over to our table and listen in on us. I had to kick Dib under the table three times to stop him staring at Lydia with his arched brow suspicion look. Lydia was either very naïve and honestly didn't notice any of our strange behaviour, or she was very polite and pretended not to notice. Once again, there was the little glances over her shoulder, twice she deliberately dropped something under the table to mutter something in secret. Although, the strangest thing was when Zim's camera tried to snake under the table with her. For a split second, black and white stripes slithered along the metal and was followed by Zim crying out in horror from the other side of the cafeteria and falling onto his back. It was only for a split second, but the colour change in the device was distinctive. Lydia blushed and made an excuse to leave after that.

After skool, Lydia rushed from the classroom and vanished around the corner, instantly, me and Dib rushed over to Zim's desk.

"What happened at lunch, what happened to your camera?" Dib demanded.

Zim shuddered, but didn't answer, so I added, "The camera turned black and white for a moment, what did you see on your end?"

"Such… _horrible_ things…" he muttered through gritted teeth.

Me and Dib exchanged a glance, "We're doing it now then, Amy, come on, we're doing this at my house."

Zim jumped up, "No way Dib-filth! The procedure shall be carried out in my base. The defences are better and… no one makes a fool out of ZIM!"

"Wait… you're inviting us to your base?" Dib asked, arching a brow.

"Only because I want to teach that thing that when you humiliate Zim, you're signing your own death wish." He paused and smirked at Dib, "You might want to remember that."

Dib swallowed hard, "Whatever space-boy."

We met up with Gaz and made our way to Zims base. We shut all of the curtains and lit candles everywhere. GIR, now tired of the cheese grater, was no having fun seeing how long he could hold his hand in the flames, shrieking with pain and laughter every time.

"Yay! It burns!" he yelled, blowing on his hand.

"GIR, if you stop that I'll get you a toy!" I coaxed.

His eyes widened and he rushed over to wrap his arms around my legs, his metal hands still scolding hot and bringing silent tears to my eyes. He finally let me go and I was left with little robot fist burns on my calves.

Gaz rolled her eyes, "I can't see my game properly in here." She announced, leaving and making her way to the better lit kitchen. Finally, everything was set. We all looked at each other nervously.

"Ready, Amy?" Dib asked, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm not sure if I remember the chant she used. Just the last bit…" the low light hid my blush.

"And what was that?" Zim snapped.

I thought for a moment, "She just said that name three times. Beetlejuice."

Dib and Zim exchanged glances, "Beetlejuice?" they asked in unison.

"BEETLEJUICE!" GIR cackled manically.


	5. The Ghost with the Most

I screamed as the flames on the candles burst up into the tubes of the ceiling, sending a wave of heart swarming around us. A harsh wind blew from nowhere and knocked me off my feet. I felt a hand grab my shoulder and hoist me behind the sofa. It was calmer back here and I saw that Dib and Zim were also crouched behind here. Next to me, GIR was staring wide-eyed in awe at the scene before us. Then, everything when deadly quiet. One by one, we all stood up to peek our eyes over the back of the sofa. All of the candles had been blown out and the only light was from the neon blue of GIR's eyes.

"GIR," Zim whispered, "Defensive mode."

I flinched as the calm blue melted into a flaming scarlet. I was never comfortable when GIR turned into his original setting, it disturbed me. GIR jumped out from behind the sofa and opened the curtains flooding the room with light, surveying the room with careful eyes. That is until her caught sight of something behind us. He turned back to blue and giggled, pointing. We all turned and sighed with relief that he was just looking at the monkey poster above the sofa. We all got to out feet and emerged from out hiding place.

"Well that was a big build up for nothing…" Zim snapped.

I shrugged, "Sorry, guys."

"No, it's not your fault, we just need the full chant maybe…" Dib pondered.

I noticed that GIR was still looking at the monkey poster. I turned and had a good look at it too, a chill ran down my spine and I swallowed hard.

"Uh, Zim, wasn't that monkey yellow?"

"Yes, what's you point?" he asked, arching a brow.

"It's black, white and stripy now."

GIR bounced up onto the sofa and peered closely into it's hollow eyes. There was a pause. The colours of the monkey drained and a humanoid face pounced out of the poster, inches away from GIR.

"AGH!" GIR screamed.

"AGH!" the creature cried in return.

"AGH!" the rest of us chorused as GIR ran in fear, leaping into my arms and knocking me over.

Whatever this thing was, it was laughing now. He pulled the rest of his body out from the poster and landed lightly on his feet in his black boots. He wore a black and white striped suit, his eyes ere hollow and sallow while his hair lay in an untidy mop of white-blonde hair. His crooked, wry grin revealed a row of yellow, uneven teeth.

"Oh yeah, I still got it!" he clapped his hands, he examined us frozen in place, "Hey, you're Lydia's new buddies, right? The big head, the alien and the Britt!"

No one spoke, our mouths had run dry and I was sure I could hear all of our hearts beating. Zim made me jump be jumping forward and pointing accusingly in his signature stance.

"Identify yourself!"

The stranger tilted his head, "Okay, don't get a bee in your bonnet!"

In a puff of smoke, a frilly white bonnet appeared on Zims head, followed by a faint buzzing from inside. Zim jolted in surprise and then froze. He leapt into the air, arms swatting at his head.

"BEE!" he screamed, running in circles.

"Never get's old," he snapped his red tipped fingers and the bonnet vanished, "Well you clearly know me, you called me after all."

"Called you? You mean, you're Beetlejuice?" Dib asked, taking a cautious step forwards.

"Yep, BJ for short. Once, twice, three times the charm and here I am. Aren't you a bright spark?"

There was a spark or light and the tip of Dib's long black lock of hair developed a flame at the end. He yelped in horror and I jumped to my feet and extinguished it with my jacket. Zim allowed himself a chuckle. Whatever this thing was, he had a lot of power, and a thing for visual puns unfortunately for us.

"So where's Lydia? She must like you to tell you about me, but then again, after meeting an alien, I'm not much of a surprise, eh?"

I cleared my throat, heart pounding, "Uh, actually, Lydia didn't tell us. We found out on our own. Sorry." I realised how weak I was sounding, but if something scares you, being nice to it will keep you safe for a while.

BJ smirked, "No sweat, babes, Lydia might be able to loosen up a bit now. She's been a bit high strung, you know?" to prove his point he transformed into a violin hovering in the air and having each of his strings snap with a _twang_.

"So what are you?" Dib asked, narrowing his eyes, "A demon? A witch's servant?"

"Witch?" BJ questioned, "Nah big head, I'm the ghost with the most!"

"My head's not big!"

"A ghost?" Zim sneered, "Ghost's don't exist!"

"Like aliens don't exist?" I challenged.

BJ laughed and held his hand up to me for a high five, I hesitated but returned the gesture all the same. I was starting to like this guy.

"Uh, sorry, I'm Amy, that's Dib, Zim and that little guy is GIR."

"What's going on in here?" Gaz snarled from the doorway, "Dib, are you raising the dead again?"

"That was you?" BJ asked, amusingly at Dib, who chuckled nervously and shrugged, BJ looked at Gaz, "She must be the scary one."

"Gaz, this is BJ, he's a… ghost." I explained, not really believing my own words.

Gaz eyed him suspiciously and shrugged, sitting herself on the sofa and going back to her game. In turn, we all started asking questions. BJ explained that he was a ghost form the Neitherworld and had befriended Lydia, (who as it turns out was not a witch) back when she lived in her old house and had been her friend in secret for a few years. He's insisted on going to skool with her and he apologised for the tricks he played, gaining a deadly glare from Zim and a nod of approval from Dib. It was strange, talking to a dead person, he was so lively and loud. Apart from the smell of decaying leaves and damp, and the occasional sight of an insects wing stuck in his teeth, I wouldn't have guessed. Thought the questioning, Dib had been taking notes. BJ laughed.

"Awe look at him, wide-eyed in wonder, those eyes could suck you in! Whoa!"

BJ vanished and Dib let out a cry in surprise. Me and Zim leaned in and saw the just behind Dibs glasses, BJ could be seen hovering inside the white of his right eye. The chocolate brown of Dibs iris darting trying to focus on him, BJ somersaulted into the left eye before vanishing and reappearing on the sofa next to Gaz. Dib swayed dizzily and clutched my arm for support.

"Hey, why not find Lydia, tell her the good news? Oh, space-kid," BJ morphed into a taller version of Zim with yellow eyes, he held up a three fingered hand, "I'll take you to my leader!"

Zim growled in annoyance and BJ turned back into himself. I laughed and made my way to the door when I was stopped.

"We can just teleport there, just say the magic words, babes!" he noticed my hesitation, "It's easy, don't get your head in a spin!"

I felt my neck click as the room starting spinning wildly out of control, yet my feet were glued to the floor. A cry of confusion escaped me and I reached up and clutched my head in my hands and waited for my vision to clear. Talk about a head-rush. Oh no, now I was making puns!

"Gaz-human! Are you accompanying us?" Zim asked.

She sighed and closed her game, glaring at us in turn, "I suppose, but if you raise one more dead person, you'll have to find a way to raise yourself from the dead."

I smiled, if there was something I admired about Gaz, and that was that she knew how to control the atmosphere perfectly. My eyebrow raised knowingly at Zim. He narrowed his eyes at me.

"I just don't want to snooping about my base when no one's here!" he insisted.

BJ winked at me and I nodded in return, "Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice!"

The room began to spin under us, sending us swaying into darkness. I couldn't see anything, I could hear the other yelling around me, but where they were, I couldn't tell. In the background, BJ was laughing manically, along with GIR who sounded like he was having the time of his life. Just then, as quickly as it started, it was over. Out feet hit a soft carpet and I lost my balance. I looked up at the ceiling, trying to settle my stomach, when a figure leaned over me.

"Uh… Hi Lydia, mind if we drop in?" I grinned nervously.

BJ cackled, "Ah nice to see my humour is rubbing off on people!"

"BJ! I told you we needed to keep you a secret!" Lydia groaned, helping us to out feet.

"I know babes, but they called me!"

I started to apologise, but Zim interrupted, "Nothing can be kept secret from the amazing ZIM!"

"Sorry Lydia, we kind of found out for ourselves, it wasn't his fault." I offered.

"That and Dib's fascination with the dead." Gaz spat, brushing herself down.

Lydia was surprisingly okay with everything. In fact, she found it funny. She admitted that she knew it was a matter of time before Dib let his paranormal instinct get the better of him. GIR, who had never met Lydia before, instantly took a liking to her and scrambled up into her shoulder, playing with the hair that was pulled into a ponytail at the top of her head.

"That's GIR, Zims minion." Gaz explained, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"Cute little guy." Lydia commented.

"You're taking all of this very well." Dib noted aloud.

"I could say the same for you." She challenged.

A smile quirked the side of my mouth, Zim folded his arms, "Humans…"


	6. A Small Problem

Needless to say, the next few weeks were far from boring. If it wasn't trying to separate Zim and Dib or having gaming sessions with Gaz, it was going to the visiting the Neitherworld with Lydia and BJ. The first time we went there, my mind was blown. It was like a mixture of the insane and wonderful that didn't quite make sense and yet made perfect sense based on where it was. Admittedly, as much as I found the Neitherworld fascinating and brilliant, I found that I wasn't comfortable staying there long, surrounded by the restless dead was a little unnerving. I could tell that Dib, however drown in by the world of the paranormal, found it a little dampening on the mood. It was like he was always searching for something…

Lydia had settled in brilliantly over time, she had gotten used to the constant reminders of out DOOM when in the classroom and now that she could trust us with her secret, her and BJ were a lot more open around us. She would join us on missions into Zims base and with BJ around, it would be a lot easier and more fun. GIR and BJ got on like a house on fire, with just as much destruction!

One weekend, Lydia invited me and Dib for a sleepover. She also invited Zim, but he refused claiming that not only did he not sleep, but would never consider spending a night in a 'human dirt hovel'. I was alone at home, packing my bag for the night when I heard a tapping at my bedroom window. My heart jumped into my throat as the green, bug-eyed face of GIR's disguise was staring back at me, hovering in the air with his rocket legs. I opened my window and let him tumble into my room. He lowered his hood and looked up at me with sad eyes.

"What's up, GIR?" I asked, getting to my knees to have a better look.

He clutched his head in discomfort, "Brain storm."

"Brain storm?"

Suddenly, he jumped into the air, laughing manically. The lid of his head opened wide and a surge of lighting and thunder rose out of it, soaking my face with rain. His laughter was followed by a low cackle at the storm cloud grew a pair of yellow eyes and morphed into the black and while stripped figure of BJ.

"Brain storm, get it?" GIR cackled, "I don't!"

I laughed and was helped to my feet by BJ, "He's learning babes!"

"Yeah, unfortunately for us." I said drying my face on my jacket.

"Little guy's coming with us to Lydia's."

I nodded, this night was going to get a little more dysfunctional by the looks of it. Awe, GIR's first sleepover. I felt a little surge of pride, I don't know what it was about GIR, but he felt like a little brother to me.

"Ready to head of, babes?" BJ asked, arms resting on my desk while his legs floated above the ground, "Or do you have a _little light_ packing to do?"

He winked and a sudden tingle erupted from the heels of my shoes to the waves of my hair. The room shifted upwards and there was the slight sensation that I was falling. I was used to being a victim to BJ's puns, but this was something new. I shut my eyes as the pit of my stomach lurched. Suddenly, everything was still. I peeked one eye open and let out a cry of surprise and horror as a giant BJ grinned down at me. I instinctively backed away and bumped into something soft and fuzzy. I looked up and saw GIR in his dog suit waving madly, but he was now as tall as the house! That's when it hit me. Little and light…

"This was the best joke you could come up with?" I asked, having to shout in my new shrunken form, "I would have thought the ghost with the most would have thought of something more clever."

BJ lay down on his front so that we were now eye level, "Hey, the ghost with the most never disappoints, or my name isn't Beetlejuice!"

His pupils dilated and he clasped his hands over his mouth. He jumped to his feet, forcing me to dive out of the way of his boot. The room plummeted into a chilling cold and the windows and doors of my room were thrown open, a strong wind knocking me to my feet. The ground shook and a strange light was emitting from the floor. I could hear GIR screaming in fear and BJ begging at some unseen force.

"Oh come on! It was a slip of the tongue! Give me another chance I've been good for the past three-hundred years! Come on, please!"

The lights flickered and I heard the glass of my window smashing above me. I ducked and covered my head it my arms, preparing to be sliced in half by the falling shards. A series of clanging forced me to look up and see GIR crouching over me, allowing the glass to bounce off of him. Beetlejuice was nowhere to be seen, but I could hear him crying out, begging and getting slowly fainter. I rushed out from under GIR and just managed to see BJ being pulled into a large hole in the middle of my carpet. I screamed and ran forward, gripping one of his fingers trying to pull him up. I called for GIR who flashed red and grabbed BJ's other arm. There was a final tug from inside the hole, and BJ was gone. Everything was quiet, and there was no sign of the force that had taken BJ. I panted for breath and collapsed to my knees, pounding on the carpet in anger. That's when I noticed something horrible. Not only had BJ been dragged to who knows where, but now I was stuck like this. I must have been about 3 inches tall! My anger boiled in my skin, that didn't matter right now, whoever or whatever that thing was, he took BJ. No one hurts a friend of mine.

I looked down at my wrist and flipped open the communicator that Dib had given me. I tapped in a few digits and managed to contact Dib. I really should have called Lydia, but for some reason he came to mind first, maybe it was just force of habit. Then again, I didn't have her as a contact yet on my communicator, and lord help me if I tried to use my mobile at this size!

"Amy? What's up?" his image dissolved in front of me.

"Uh, it's a long story."

"No it's not!" GIR giggled.

"Look, I need you to call Lydia and both of you meet me at Zim's house like yesterday, we've got a big problem!"

"Not really!"

"GIR quiet! Please, I'll explain everything later!"

"Why are you at Zim's?" Dib asked, arching his brow.

"I'm not… yet… Please Dib, this is really important. I need you to do this one little thing for me!"

"HA, little thing!"

"GIR I'm serious, shut up!" I snapped.

"Has that alien scum done something to you?"

"No, please Dib! BJ's in trouble, I'll explain when you get there, please I need you!"

He paused and looked at me directly in the eyes. I noticed that tears were starting to form, he sighed and nodded, "We'll be there as soon as possible."

I breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank you."

The transmission was cut and I suddenly felt something warm and wet splash at my feet. I turned around and looked up at GIR, who was crying.

"Amy-cakes don't like me no more!" he sobbed.

Oh that's all I needed, being made to feel smaller by an emotional robot! "No GIR, don't be silly, I'm sorry. You know I like you."

I patted his leg gently and the next thing I knew, the floor was rushing away from me as something hoisted me into the air by my jacket. GIR, pinching the fabric between his fingers, pulled me up to his eye level, a whimper of anxiousness escaped me and he grinned.

"Promise?"

"Yes I promise, now GIR, do you want me to like you more?" I rushed, not liking the feeling of swaying in mid-air.

I waited while he nodded vigorously, "So much you'll bring cake again?"

"That's right GIR, lots of cakes. But if you want the cakes, you have to take me to Zim, okay?"

GIR tilted his head to the side and for a moment I thought that he didn't understand a word I had said. But then he nodded and lifted me over his head and placed me next to his antenna before pulling his green hood over me. Wow it was so hot in here, I prayed that GIR would be quick, I couldn't breathe in here! I felt more heat as he tuned on the rockets in his legs and propelled himself through the window. I clutched onto the metal rod poking out of his head and clenched my eyes shut in fear. I'm not scared of flying, but then again, I'd never ridden on the top of a robot head before.

I don't know how fast GIR was flying, but it must have been pretty quick because the next thing I felt was the rhythmic bobbing as GIR walked towards the house. I crawled forward and peeked out from under the hood, just in time to see the front door open. Inside, Zim was standing in front of the TV, staring with great interest at the screen. I clasped my hand over my mouth as I saw that it wasn't a TV show he was watching, it was Gaz. She was sitting on her bed at her house, gaming. Zim looked up and quickly pressed a button on the remote, turning the set off.

"GIR! Don't sneak up of Zim!"

GIR shrugged, "Look-see what I found!"

He lowered his hood, letting me take a thankful gasp of air. I had to admit, despite the situation I was in, and having just seen BJ getting dragged into the depths of the unknown, there was a moment of pure amusement as Zim set his eyes on me. His magenta eyes widened and his jaw hit the floor. He took a wary step closer and crouched down to get a closer look at me. I let out a nervous laugh and waved my fingers at him.

"Uh… hi Zim."

There was a further moment of bemused hesitation before he shot out his hand and gripped me tightly around my torso, securing my arms to my sides. He lifted me up to eye level and pointed at me menacingly with his free hand.

"LIES!" he cried, making my ears ring, "You saw nothing!"

"What you spying on Gaz? Were we interrupting something?" I retorted, kicking my legs.

"Uh, GIR, I was just observing the gaming skills of the Did-sister, it seems the device she uses contains some Irken similarities. It seems she's being trained somehow." His eyes shifted uneasily.

I rolled my eyes, "Sure you did, but listen to me, something horrible has happened! Beetlejuice has -"

"Oh I don't see this as horrible!" he prodded me gently, "In fact this is good, now Zim is the tallest! HA!"

"Zim this doesn't have anything to do with height! Please, this is serious! BJ -"

"Victory for Zim!"

"ZIM!" I cried, making him flinch, "If you don't listen to me right now I'm telling Dib about the camera's you've set up in Gaz's room!"

"Oh, Amy-worm, I don't think you're in a real position to threaten me, are you?"

I glared at him. Behind me, I heard the front door open. The room gave a frightening lurch as Zim bent his arm to hide me behind his back. I wriggled and kicked, but his grip only tightened more. Thankfully, the next voice I heard was one I was all too happy to hear.

"Zim! Where is she you lizard?" Dib cried, leaping into the room.

"And have you seen BJ around here?" Lydia asked.

"Dib! Lydia! Help, it's Amy! We've got to help BJ he's -"

My words were cut short by Zim jamming the knuckle of his thumb into my mouth. I yelled and called but my words were muffled and inaudible. Dib arched his brow in suspicion and Lydia folded her arms. Zim twitched the corner of his mouth in uneasiness. This was ridicules! Someone had to listen to me! BJ was probably in big trouble! I looked down at the slick black glove that was covering my mouth and had an idea. I rolled my eyes and clenched my eyes shut, clamping my teeth down into his skin as hard as I could. Zim shrieked in anger and pain and jolted his arm, brining me back up to eye lever. He lifted his fist to my face threateningly, eyes burning.

"Why you insolent little human!"

I spat out a piece of black fabric that was stuck in my teeth and turned to look at my saviours. Zim flushed and turned to look at them sheepishly. Dib narrowed his eyes in rage while Lydia left her mouth hanging open.

"LIES!" Zim cried, throwing the arm that held me outwards and allowing me to slip into GIR's open hands.

As GIR cradled me gently to his chest, I looked up at Dib and Zim. In a matter of second, all hell broke loose.


	7. Through the Neitherworld

Dib growled and threw himself at Zim, gripping his hands around the aliens' neck. Zim was knocked onto his back, Dib using his knees to hold Zims arms down. Zim made gargled grunts, his mouth wide open and tongue hanging over his lips. Lydia took a step back, hands clasped over her mouth in horror, she wasn't as used to this as I was. I wriggled in GIR's grip until he had no choice but to put me down. Sprinting towards them, I jumped up onto Zims chest getting in-between the enemies. They were both yelling now, heads dangerously close, my ears couldn't take much more of this. I gritted my teeth and took my opportunity. I wrapped my one fist around Zims worm-like tongue and with the other managed to dig my nails into Dibs who was just close enough. I pulled harshly, making them both gag in unison. They glared at me, but I didn't loosen my grip, I finally had their attention. Even if it was disgusting having their drool dripping over my hands.

"Right, now listen to me! BJ's did this to me with one of his jokes, okay? But he's been taken and we need to save him! Now I'm going to let go, Dib, you're going to stop killing Zim, and Zim, you're going to get up and stay still, right?" I dig my nails in further and gave an extra tug for emphasis.

They nodded stiffly and I released them. I rubbed my hands in my jeans and slid off of Zims chest and onto the floor. True to their word, (or pain, either way) they backed away from one another, prodding their tongues gingerly. Lydia lowered herself to her knees to get a closer look at me.

"What do you mean, BJ's been taken? Where?"

"I don't know, it's like this…"

I explained everything that had happened, starting when GIR and BJ had appeared in my room and ending with them arriving here. All the while, GIR nodded and even tried acting out a few scenes himself. I deliberately left out the part about Zim watching Gaz, I'd save that bit of blackmail for later, hehe. Finally, I had finished explaining and felt a sense of odd relief wash over me. Maybe I was glad that someone was listening at last!

Lydia brushed some hair out of her eyes, "So, BJ actually said his own name out loud?"

"Isn't he supposed to do that?" asked Dib, anxiously.

She shook her head, "It's part of his powers. He made a deal in the Neitherworld that he gets unlimited powers, but as a price, people who have seen him can summon him by saying his name three times, but if he says his own name, the deal is broken and he has to be taken back to the Neitherworld. Because that was the price of his powers, his name. Basically, he gave up the right of his own name, leaving himself vulnerable to anyone, for power. When he said his name, it must have been interpreted as him trying to get his name back and going back on the deal."

"Well we've got to save him!" I cried, "We've got to go to the Neitherworld and find him!"

"He could be anywhere!" Dib groaned, throwing his arms in the air.

"Well think about it Dib-beast, when you humans break a contract, you sort in out in a 'court' or something, clearly he's going to be in some sort of prison unit awaiting a trail." Zim sneered, folding his arms.

We all stared at him, mouths hanging open in shock at the sudden genius. Zim stopped smiling smugly and glared at us all nervously.

"What?"

"That's… brilliant…" I smirked, "Lydia, is there anything like that in the Neitherworld?"

She nodded, "Yeah, we had to go to a court house when we first met to try and let BJ live with me. I know the way, but the system is really quick so we've got to get there a.s.a.p!"

"Wait… we?" Zim glared, "What makes you think that the almighty Zim would accompany you?"

I tugged at his trouser leg and waited for him to look down at me, "Because if you don't, I'll tell a certain someone about your little _visual_ project you have set up." I said, pointing at the TV.

He paled and bent down to pick me up by the hem of my jacket, letting my dangle in front of his eyes, "When we're through, you'll be nothing but a chew toy for GIR!"

"Nuh-uh!" GIR shook his head, "She's gonna give me cake!"

Zim deflated at the uncooperative minion. I folded my arms with a smirk and raised my eyebrows in triumph. He narrowed his puce eyes and lowered me roughly back to the ground. I nodded at Lydia who took a deep breath as we all gathered around. She raised her arms and closed her eyes, mellowing her voice for the chant.

"_Though I know I should be wary, still I venture someplace scary, ghostly haunting I turn loose! Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. BEETLEJUICE!_"

The ground shook and an icy wind bellowed around us. The walls of the house warped and cracked, breaking away into a hazed gloom. Lights flashed around us, blinding me. But, as quickly as it had started, it stopped. I peeked my eyes open and gasped as I took in my surroundings. The yellow-orange sky hung over us while the misshaped brown cliffs towered around us, or rather, towered over them, colossal over me. Green, morbid clouds swarmed in the sky, buildings could be seen dotted in the distance.

"You couldn't have gotten us a bit closer?" Zim snapped.

"Why can't we just summon BJ here, it worked before?" Dib offered.

"Hey, I can't control where we end up in the Neitherworld, I've always had BJ there to guide me, and I don't know why but I can't summon him when he's in the Neitherworld. It's his world here, different rules." Lydia replied, pointing her finger at the pair of them, "But the court house is just down there, the big building in the middle."

"Oooooh!" GIR widened his eyes and clasped his hands together, "Can I wear the silly wig?"

"Uh…" Zim face-palmed, "Maybe."

"YAY! Let's go!"

Without waiting, he sprinted off down the mountain, Zim groaning and chasing after. Lydia rolled her eyes and strolled along behind briskly, Dib close behind. I raced to keep up with them, ever step they took was a good five while running for me.

"Uh, little help?" I called, gasping for breath, curse this asthma!

Dib stopped in his tracks, making me collide harshly with the back of his ankle, "Sorry!" he smiled.

He crouched down and lay his hand, palm upwards next to me. I bit my tongue and reddened with embarrassment as I carefully stepped on and sat down, holding his thumb for support. This kind of elevation was different to what I was used to so far, but I liked it. It was better than being hoisted by my jacket and left to hung in mid-air. Dib nervously lifted me up onto his narrow shoulder where I wrapped the collar of his trench-coat around myself for safety. As soon as I was in place, he started walking again, taking very careful steps not to shake me in any way.

We'd been following Lydia's directions, along with a screaming GIR, for what seemed like hours and it still didn't look like we were getting any closer to the town. Well, maybe that was just die to my size, to be fair, maybe we were just under half way there, but that's a generous assumption. The Neitherworld sky had turned a gloomy dark blue and an ominous full moon hung in the sky. I had to marvel at it, even where the restless dead lay, they could still have the beauty of a moon to look at.

"GIR!" Zim yelled, "The mighty Zim commands you to stop!"

"Okay! Sheesh, no need to yell!" GIR giggled, stopping and allowing his master to lean of him while gasping for breath.

We all managed to catch up, waiting for the red haze to vanish from Zims face. Lydia looked around, it was so dark now that the only real light was the teal glow from GIR's eyes.

"Maybe we should rest up for the night."

Dib shuddered, making me sway, "Is it… safe?"

"Yeah, if anyone finds us they know me so it's okay, and sandworms are much further south than this."

I jumped "What's a sandworm?"

She chewed her lip, "Oh, uh, nothing. Just these Neitherworld creatures, just worms, nothing to worry about."

I didn't like the jittery tone in her voice, but it was all I had to go on. So I nodded and found myself huddling deeper into the nape of Dibs neck. With GIR standing by, Dib managed to find some wood laying around while Zim used sparks from his PAK to start a fire. They all crowded around, holding out their palms for warmth. I was lowered to the ground and found more comfort sitting on GIR's knee than I did being close to the fire. Do you blame me?

Fatigue started to wash over us all. Lydia suggested that we get some sleep and get an early head start in the morning to find BJ. Zim scoffed.

"Pfft! The amazing Zim needs no sleep!"

"Then take the first watch shift." I offered.

"No way!" Dib cried, "I'm not letting this space-monster watch over us while we're sleeping! Who knows what he's planning!"

"Dib, we're in the middle of a Neitherworld looking for a ghost in the middle of a desert area. What the heck is he going to do?" I asked, arching my brow.

"Zim, there's a good watch stop up there, would you keep look-out up there?" Lydia asked, she continued when Zim glared at her, "Just think, you'll be able to look down on us lower life forms from way up there."

He eyed the mound with an approving nod, "Very well, mission accepted!"

I gave Lydia a smile of approval at her manipulation; it was good to see she was getting used to Zim now. She returned my grin and lay on her back, closing her eyes for sleep. I followed suit after sliding from GIR and onto the dusty ground. GIR was already asleep, nattering and chuckling in his dreams. It always made me wonder why a robot needed sleep, yet Zim didn't, but I thought it best not to ask. As my eyes closed, I found sleep hard to come by. I heard Lydia breathing heavily and snoring lightly, but I couldn't hear Dib. I opened my eyes to find him still sitting by the fire, staring into the flames. I got to my feet and rested my arms on his leg, making him jump.

"Can't sleep either?"

He shook his head, "I can't trust _him_ to keep us safe."

I rolled my eyes, "You two are more alike than you think, you know that?"

"So you've said…" he muttered, looking disgusted, "How so again?"

"You're both as stubborn and determined to see the bad in each other as the other one is for a start! But, you're both insecure too. And, now this is just my opinion now, but you kind of need each other."

"Need each other?" he scoffed.

"Yeah. He needs you so that his mission had a purpose, and you need him to prove your sanity. It's sweet, in a twisted kind of way…"

He laughed, "You're too nice, you know that?"

"Meh, so you've said…" I grinned.

He cleared his throat after an awkward pause, "Does it bother you, being, that small?"

I shrugged and clambered up onto his knee, "It's not as bad as it seems, I couldn't live like this but… it's okay for an adventure."

"But it's my fault, isn't it?"

"Okay?" I folded my arms and narrowed my eyes, "How do you figure that one out?"

"Well, if I hadn't dragged you into all this alien stuff, you wouldn't be in this position, and you wouldn't have been in danger so many times before. So it's my fault."

I had to laugh, he looked at me strangely, "Drama-Queen. I haven't been in danger _that_ much, and knowing my luck I would have ended up like this anyway, don't you dare blame yourself or I'll… I'll pull your tongue again!"

Now it was his turn to laugh, he playfully jabbed me with his finger, knocking to me the side. I swatted him away and jumped back into the ground.

"Now get some sleep, okay?" I said, moving out of the way while he lay down, his eyes level with me now.

He smiled sheepishly and curled up by the fire. I lay about a foot away from him, the dust tickling my nose. I opened my eyes for a moment and found that Dib was still looking at me. He reddened and looked away. But almost instantly, he looked at me warily.

"Amy? Do you think we'll find BJ?" when I nodded with a tired smile, he continued, "And what if… what if I had to find someone else down here? Do you think I'd be able to find them?"

I pushed myself onto my elbow, "I don't know, who're you looking for?"

He looked away from me, "My… my mom…"

I stared as a pang of sympathy shot through my chest. He looked back at me expectantly, his eyes were red, but I knew him enough to know that he would never cry, he would hold them back to no end. I got to my feet and walked closer to him, turning over his hand that rested by his face so that his palm was facing upwards. I stepped onto it and lay down on my side to that we were face to face. I wrapped my arms around his thumb in an attempt to comfort him.

"You've been looking for her since you've met BJ, haven't you?"

He nodded, dust clinging to his cheek, "It's stupid right? I mean, I don't even know if she's dead or not, Dad never told us what happened to her."

A miniscule tear dripped down my face and melted into his skin, "It's not stupid at all, but I'm not sure you're going to find her here. But… if you believe it, then I'm with you till the end."

He smiled softly, shuffling in his coat so that the sleeve covered my body like a blanket, "You mean it?"

I nodded and said those two words that meant I was deadly serious. I looked at him right in the large drown eyes behind his glasses and said:

"I promise."


	8. Worming into Town

I shifted in my sleep, slowly regaining consciousness. For a moment, I completely forgot where I was. My bed beneath me was oddly soft and curved around me, it was smooth and warm too, almost like skin… I snapped my eyes open and yelped in shock as I lay face to face with a pair of glasses bigger than me attacked to a giant head. The eyes of this creature snapped open and bore down on me with deep chocolate eyes. I tripped backwards in my haste to get up and ended up falling flat on my back in the dirt, I caught my breath and allowed myself a laugh.

"You okay? What's wrong?" Dib asked, scanning the area for danger.

Wow that head was massive from this height, "Nothing, I just… you know… forgot." I blushed.

He nodded and rubbed the sleep from his eyes before pushing himself into sitting position. I found my feet and brushed the dust from me, behind me Lydia yawned and waved at us cheerfully.

"Morning, sleep okay?" she asked, stretching out her back.

"More or less, hey, where's the robot and Zim?" Dib said suddenly, eyes darting.

She pointed up to the mound, "Still keeping watch, GIR must have joined him at some point. I'll go get them, we've got to hurry if we want to catch BJ in time."

She brushed herself down and made her way up the hill to where Zim had been keeping watch for the night. However, she didn't even make it half way before a faint cry could be heard just on the other side. We froze, it was getting ever louder, and closer. There was a burst of smoke in the air as some sort of object came crashing down towards us. There was a deafening thud and a series of yells and shrieks. The object made a series of painful looking somersaults before coming to a stop a few meters away from us.

"Zim?" Dib asked anxiously, mouth agape.

A very battered, and dusty, Zim scrambled to his feet. The object he had been riding on was GIR, who was now half buried in the dirt and sand. He jumped up and spat mouthful after mouthful of sand out and grinned.

"I made a friend! We're playing tag, he's it!" he giggled.

Zims red eyes were bulging, he was shaking and trying to speak but nothing audible was coming out. Lydia raced back to join us and gave Zim a harsh slap across the face. For a moment, he froze and looked at her as if he was going to strangle her, but a low rumble from the group interrupted him. He pointed back to the mound.

"Demon lizard! Demon lizard!" he cried, backing away.

"What, did you find a mirror out there, space-boy?" Dib sneered, rolling his eyes.

"Demon lizard?" I asked, there was another earthquake, "GIR, what did your friend look like?"

There was an almighty screech and the ground shook violently, sending me flying off my feet. The mound seemed to be vibrating, the sand pouring away in retreat. Lydia swallowed hard and started backing away. A burst of sand exploded into the air as a creature rose from beneath. It could have easily been taller than mine, Zims, Dibs and Lydia's houses altogether! It was snake-like, with purple-black and white rings around its slithering body, behind its blue lips were rows upon rows of yellow razor teeth.

Dib gulped at the sheer size of the thing, "Well I feel small…"

I glared at him out of the corner of my eyes, "How'd you think I feel?"

GIR waved manically, "There he is! I named him Mr. Waffle!"

Zim tackled GIR to the ground, covering his mouth with his gloved hand. I instinctively backed away until I was flat against Dibs boot. Slowly, he scooped me up and held me protectively to his chest. Lydia clenched her fists and whispered slowly and carefully, her eyes locked on the creature.

"Everyone keep quiet, and do not make any sudden moves. Just slowly turn around, and walk away. One little step at a time, okay?"

We all nodded and started walking in the opposite direction towards the town. The creature glared in our direction, trying to determine if we were worth the trouble or not. Zim carefully picked up GIR, keeping his hand over the robots mouth, and followed us, a cold sweat beading at the back of his neck. Beneath me, I could feel Dibs palms getting sweaty and shivering, my heart was pounding against my ribs. Please let us get out of here alive, I prayed while trying to control my breathing. We were doing really well, but looking back, it wouldn't be us if something didn't go wrong. GIR managed to wriggle free of his masters grip and jump onto the ground. He turned and started waving madly at the creature.

"MR. WAFFLE! Over here!" he cried, getting the creatures attention, "You're it remember?"

The thing snarled and dived head first into the sand and buried its way towards us. The ground shook beneath us as we started running for our lives. Dib held onto me tightly as he sprinted. I felt myself leaning further into his chest, trying to summon any feeling of security. His heart was pounding against my cheek, making my ear ring.

Out of no where, the creatures head burst out of the ground beneath us. Screams echoed from all directions under the explosion of dirt and sand. I felt myself flying through the air as I was thrown out of Dibs grasp. I hit the ground hard and tumbled over onto my back, my head colliding with the ground hard, making my vision blur. I could just make out Zim being thrown to the side.

He shielded his face with his arms, "Take the Dib, take the Dib!"

I tried to push myself up, but I was so dizzy that I ended up falling pitifully back to the ground again. My eyes travelled upwards, watching the creature towering above me. It narrowed its beady eyes on me and quickly noted that I was the weakest and easiest to get. This was it, this was the end. Fear turned to ice in my veins, keeping me in place. It opened its jaws and shot at me with lightning speed. I clenched my eyes shut and curled in on myself, bracing for its fangs to rip me to shreds.

Something collided with me, enclosing me in darkness. I muffled a scream, waiting for its teeth to sink in, but they never same. With great hesitation, I cracked my eyes open, but I couldn't see anything, it was all black. Was I dead? Was it keeping me in its mouth for later? Wherever I was, it was bumpy. I was being tossed around in my tight claustrophobic prison, my head clashing against the roof and my knees buckling against the bottom. I could faintly hear panting and screamed from outside. Where was I? If I was inside it's mouth, wouldn't it be damp? This seemed more like, leather…

There was a final jolt of movement that sent me tumbling head over heels. Then, everything was silent. I daren't move. Suddenly, a crack of light appeared in my prison. It grew until I saw that I was inside a large cave of some sort, hidden from the outside. I sighed with relief to see Dib slumped in the corner, hand over his pounding heart and Lydia with GIR giggling on her shoulders, gasping for air. But then I noticed something else. I was on leather, leather gloves, I looked up and saw a large pair of maroon eyed glaring at me. I smiled.

"Zim? You saved me?"

A hint of a smirk twitched at the corner of his mouth, but he quickly composed himself and returned with a scowl. He looked up at Dib with a look that could only be described as unimpressed and gripped me around the middle. He held me out to Dib, who held out his cupped hands to take me.

"If the Dib isn't more careful with his new _pet_ then he will not have her for long." Zim declared, starting to turn away.

Pet? The cheek! If I was my normal size I would have stormed right up to him given him a deserved smack on the back of the head, but considering the circumstances, I settled with poking my tongue out at him childishly.

"Zim!" Dib called after him, his voice was strained and sounded like it was causing him pain, but he looked genuine, "Thanks."

Zim turned to narrow his eyes at him questioningly, "It was not your existence that the amazing, yet merciful, Zim preserved!"

"I know but… thanks."

The two stared at each other for a moment, sharing a split second of understanding. Zim nodded and returned to his pace by the mouth of the cave. Me and Lydia exchanged glances of triumph, any moment we could get those two to get along were like pay-days for us. Rare and well deserved.

"Where is that thing now?" I asked, looking at Lydia.

"The sandworm? We managed to ditch it before hiding in here." She answered.

"Wait, that was a sandworm?" Dib cried, jaw dropping.

She nodded, "I told you they were Neitherworld creatures."

"Yeah, you also said that they were 'nothing to worry about', remember?" I used my fingers for air quotes.

She blushed, "Uh, sorry, my mistake."

GIR sniffled and rubbed his eyes, "I'll miss you, Mr. Waffle…"

I had to laugh, or else I may have just snarled, "Can we make it to the town from here?"

"Yes, it's only two minutes or so, but we should wait until we're sure that the sandworms gone first."

We all nodded in agreement. I slide down to the ground and stretched myself out after being curved and bounced around so much in such a short space of time. My back clucked in three places, allowing a rush of relief wash through me. I noticed Zim glaring out into the open and chose to go and join him. He pretended to ignore me as I scrambled up onto his knees which were brought up close to his chin. I leaned over and gave him a gentle poke in the cheek.

"Thank you, Zim, I mean it." I said, clearing my throat.

He arched his brow, "Don't read anything into it, Amy-beast, you hold many secrets and are still an asset to Zim. I won't be so generous next time."

Although his voice was quiet and serious, a twitch at the corner of his mouth gave him away. I nodded with the pretence of understanding.

"So there's going to be a 'next time' when you save me then?" I asked smugly, he glared at me so I continued, "I mean, unless you don't think you could?"

He scoffed, "Oh you underestimate me, tiny-human, Zim could save you into the thousands without fail!"

Snap went my trap, "Awe, thanks Zimmers, I didn't know you cared about me so much!"

He opened his mouth to say something but paused as it sunk in what I had just gotten him so say.

"Point to Amy-cakes!" GIR sang.

By the time Zim had narrowed his eyes and shot out a claw to grab at me, I had already escaped and was giving him a mock salute, making my way back further into the cave. GIR held out a finger to give me a high-five and sniggered to himself. We all tried to wait a little longer to guarantee our safety, however, Zim was getting jittery just sitting around doing nothing, so within ten minutes, we were back out in the open. GIR draped over Lydia's shoulders and I tucked into the crook of Dibs neck. True to her word, it wasn't that long until we made our way into the town. There were spooks and spirits everywhere. It was strange being in a place that made Zim look actually human for once. We were led up to a large and misshapen building that Lydia explained was the court hall. If BJ was here, then we were going to find him soon. I could feel it.


	9. Reunion Behind Bars

Picture the halls of Tim Burtons mind, mixed in with the internal decorations of the Manson house and adding a hint of Wonderland. That is what the inside of the Court looked like. The tall winding pillars twisted into a ceiling with gaping holes and broken rafters, the tiled floor splattered with a multitude of colours and patterns. The whole room made my head spin. At the head of the room, behind a barristers desk was a tall creature with grey slimy skin and a single bulging eye; wearing a long black robe and a white curled wig. Lydia waved at it, to which it smiled and returned the gesture.

"Miss. Deetz, long time no see, I was wondering when you were going to show up here." It growled, not in a cruel way, but in a way that indicated that this was his natural voice.

Zim started to develop a twitch in his eye. Backing away so that he nearly collided into Dib.

"Are you okay?" I asked, also a little taken back by the creatures appearance but not wanting to make a scene out of it.

"It's the Halloweenies!" Zim rasped through gritted teeth.

I looked up at Dib in confusion, he cleared his throat, "A few years ago before you moved here, there was an incident on Halloween. A horrible… horrible incident… That guy kinda looks like something we…met."

"And whose fault was that Dib-beast?"

Dib swallowed hard as a memory flashed behind his glasses and Zim let out a groan of discomfort. Come to think of it, I had never seen Zim around on Halloween. Dib always spent his time in the graveyard on Halloween, made sense really, but what had happened that was so bad?

"I _hate_ Halloween…" Zim muttered, shaking his head.

I smirked and leant across Dibs shoulder so that I was closer to Zim, he arched his brow at me. So I smiled wider and winked, "I _love_ Halloween."

He lowered himself so that we were crimson eyeball to aqua eyeball and sneered, "You would…"

"WHAT?"

All three of us jumped at the sudden exclamation from Lydia. She had been conversing with the Neitherworld dweller when the conversation had taken a turn for the worse. Lydia was staggering backwards in horror. Zim gingerly poked out a finger into her back in a weak attempt to steady her, grimacing as Dib and I face-palmed in unison.

"What happened?" Dib asked, steadying Lydia himself, gripping her shoulders.

"BJ's due to a court hearing today. But it's just a formality; he's going to be pleaded guilty either way!"

"Why? What's going to happen to him?" I cried, glaring at the creature.

"He broke his contract, therefore, he is guilty. He was always a little defective in his afterlife anyway, we're doing him a favour." It replied passively.

Zim clenched his fists, "The small worm-child asked you two questions; what exactly is going to happen to this… _defect_?"

I backed away from Zim deeper into the collar of Dibs jacket. Dib and I exchanged a glance. That one specific word, 'defect' was a severe sore spot in Zims mind. Even Dib was careful not to use it. There was one incident in Skool where a poor child had been Zims partner in a science project, the Bunsen burner was faulty so the kid called it 'defective'. In some twisted sense, I do find it funny when that boy sneezes flames every now and again…

The creature shrugged at the question, "Fed to the sandworms, like all the other guilty spectres."

My mouth hung open. What kind of sick and twisted society was this? I know that the people down here are dead and restless, but feeding them to those vicious mutants out in the desert was just horrific! Lydia smacked her hand over her mouth.

"You can see him if you like, court starts in ten minutes." He yawned.

We nodded and were led to a side room where everything was pitch-black. A single spot light centred on a narrow cage of sorts. Inside, was a tired, weak figure, laying on its back on the ground. Its white-blonde hair stuck up in all directions, the black and white striped suit rumpled. At the sight of us, the hollow yellow eyes became bright and mischievous. Lydia ran forward and shoved her arms through the bars, pulling the phantom into an embrace.

"Sup babes, I'll tell you what, these spring getaways aren't what they used to be!" he grinned.

"How do you get into these things, BJ?" she laughed with relief.

"What? Do I make it look to easy? Hey look, the whole gangs here!" he rested his eyes on us, "Green-machine, Big-Head, hey it's Mini-me!" he gave GIR a high-five through the metal bars, "Where's… oh…"

He had started looking for me, thinking I was not in the room, when he spotted me from Dibs shoulder. I folded my arms and chewed the inside of my cheek, narrowing my eyes at him trying to hide my happiness that he was okay. He smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

"Yeah, sorry to leave ya feeling so down, babes!" he called, "Well, at least you had a good view of the show from _down _front!" he continued to have his fill of short, down, little and size jokes until even I had to crack a smile.

Dib smirked, "Now you know how I feel when people make jokes about my head."

I huffed and folded my arms, "Oh no Dib, I don't think anything could compare to your head."

"Another point to Amy-cakes!" GIR giggled as Zim nodded in approval.

GIR, wanting to praise me more (aren't I the lucky one) hopped over to me and scooped me from Dibs shoulder, clutching me tightly to his chest. All of the air was squeezed out of me and I was starting to see dark spots everywhere. Finally, he released his grip and lifted me up to his head so that I could hold onto his metal antenna for support. I wrapped my arms around it and drank in the air, watching the room return to its normal colouring.

"Can you change her back?" Lydia asked.

I smiled gratefully at her. I really wanted to ask that question, but for some reason I felt horrible asking him when he looked so trapped and repressed. Anyway, I could survive a little longer in this form, as long as he was okay. But nevertheless, I didn't kind of want an answer.

"Uh, here's the thing babes, when they put me here, they took my powers, I'm just a regular garden variety ghost now." He paused, emphasising the stillness in the room, "See, I had a whole lawn-gnome visual gag lined up there!"

"What happened, BJ?" Lydia asked, "Why did you say your name?"

He sighed, "It was an honest slip of the tongue! Jeez, the people down here are such dead-beats!"

I hint of disappointment washed over me, but I quickly pushed it away. No, I told myself, I would not feel any form of self pity here. Sure I was stuck like this for a little longer, but that was nothing compared to poor BJ. He had just had his livelihood taken away from him just because of a single mistake. Wait…

"Oh no…" Dib groaned, smacking his palm to his face.

"What?" I asked defensively as he glanced at me with a glint in his eye.

"I know that look… you've got an idea…"

A blush surfaced in my cheeks, but I tried my best to hide the fact that I was thrilled that he knew me so well. Zim leaned in to get a better look at me, I straightened up at the sudden intrusion of personal space. His antenna dropped slightly and he shook his head.

"Why on Irk must Zim endure this torment?" he called to the ceiling.

I scoffed, "Hey, when have my ideas ever ended badly?"

To my surprise, everyone in the room exchanged a glance. Including Lydia and BJ!

"Well, the day you moved in and thought it was a good idea to follow GIR to my base…" Zim said.

"The time we stayed after skool to spy on the were-hamster and you had the idea to search through Ms. Bitters' desk…" Dib added.

"Hey, how was I supposed to know she kept bats in there?" I snapped.

"No offence Amy, but you do have a few dangerous ideas from time to time." Dib shrugged, wincing apologetically at me.

I had to laugh, there wasn't much else I could do at that moment, "Sure," I said sarcastically, "Fear me for I am cute and pocket sized!" I held my hands like claws and playfully glared at them.

BJ grinned and reached through the bars and tapped me on the head with his red-tipped fingers. I turned and looked up expectantly at him. He shrugged and rolled his eyes.

"Well babes I'm not going anywhere and to be honest it's not exactly the Ritz in here, so what's this idea of yours?"

I returned his grin and looked around the room. I spotted the creature that had led us in here earlier on. He had never left, he was just standing bored in the doorway, clearly it was against regulations to leave visitors alone with a prisoner. This I was glad of, I called over to him and felt a shudder of distain as he glared at me with his one eye as if he couldn't be bothered to take notice of me. I narrowed my eyes and raised my voice.

"HEY!" making everyone jump, "I'm talking to you!"

The creature grudgingly shuffled over and looked down at me. GIR activated his rockets in his legs and rose into the air so that I was eye level with him.

"Thank you." I said, smiling with false sweetness, I wasn't letting anyone push me around right now, "Do you have a copy of the contract that BJ signed?"

"I suppose, for evidence, yeah."

"And could you manage to get hold of the contract which both Lydia and BJ signed when they had to come here before so that BJ could live with her."

He grumbled, "If you needed it, can I ask why?"

I nodded, "I want to prove this ghost's innocence, I'll need the contracts to do that."

It eyed me with mild amusement, "And you are?"

My throat dried instantly, but I forced myself to answer, "His lawyer."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Dibs jaw drop and Zim tilt his head to the side in confusion. I realised how stupid I sounded, as well as how stupid I looked. But I stood my ground. Finally the creature shrugged.

"Wait here, I'll get them."

As soon as he left the room, I managed to breathe again.

"So you're a lawyer now?" Dib asked sceptically, folding his arms.

I cringed, "Apparently… But I know what I'm doing!"

"You'd better babes, you've got guts I'll tell you that." BJ nodded with approval.

The door reopened and the creature walked back inside with two long pieces of old parchment. He placed them on the table in the corner and explained how they were copies of the original and could be used to take notes if needed. He left, a glint of pity and entertainment in his eye, making my blood boil. I had five minutes with this, I couldn't waste any time. GIR took me to the table and tilted his head forward so that I slid gracefully onto the surface. I first looked at the oldest contract, then the more recent one which included Lydia.

"And what does the Amy-worm wish to find in this?" Zim asked, arching his brow.

"Loop-holes. Every contract has them and every court uses them." I explained.

Lydia raised her eyebrows and joined me, "So we just have to find them and worm our way out of this case?"

"Exactly."

BJ pretended to wipe away a tear, "Awe, by little girls becoming a regular con-artist!"

"I learnt from the best…" I muttered.

Dib folded his arms on the desk next to me and peered closely at the words, "That's… not a bad idea actually."

I poked my tongue out at him in triumph and returned to my work. A grin spread over my face and I pointed at a few sections for them to underline. This was just the stuff we needed.

"Anything good over there?" BJ called, a subtle hint of hope in his voice.

I nodded, "Oh yeah, we'll have the ghost with the most back in no time."


	10. Inhuman Verdict

I didn't know that much about court cases, apart from what I'd seen on TV and I wasn't sure that was going to help me here. BJ was set before the judge which, to our amazing unfortunate luck, was the creature from earlier. It turns out that his name was Judge Eye-zen. I really with I was making that up but that really was his name. On one side of the room was a tall humanoid ghost with pure silver hair and hollow black eyes holding a large pile of papers. That must be the contractor, I thought to myself. On the other side of the room was out dysfunctional group. I had been briefed on how things were going to happen, apparently things work a little different down in the Neitherworld.

For one thing, the whole place was full of creatures and spectres, cheering and gorging on snacks like this was some kind of theatre show! BJ would be taken to the front for questioning, then given the verdict, and then we would get the chance to object if we disagree with the outcome. I cocked my head in confusion, what kind of messed up system was that?

"Court is not in session! Accused, to the stand." Eye-zen bellowed, pointing at BJ.

BJ nodded and took his seat in the small unit next to the Judge. The silver haired spectre glared at him and stood, ready for questioning. I gulped, by the look of all those papers, this was going to be painful, thorough and in great detail. He cleared his throat.

"Is your name BJ? An abbreviation of… this." He held out a note with Beetlejuice scribbled on it.

"That's my name, don't wear it out, take my advice on that one." BJ grinned anxiously.

"And did you sign these two contracts?"

BJ glanced at them, "Yeah…"

The ghost looked at the judge, "Yep, that's him."

A gasp of shock from the audience. I arched my brow, glaring at them from the top of GIR's metallic head. Was this place for real?

"Guilty!" The Judge bellowed, snacking his gavel on the desk.

The audience cheered.

"What?" Dib exclaimed, his mouth agape.

"Does any of the accused 'lawyers' have an objection to prove otherwise?" he used his claws as air quotes.

"YES!" we all chorused, hardly believing that he was even asking.

He groaned and flicked his wrist in boredom, "Fine, you have two minutes to prepare."

The group all looked down at me and my throat instantly dried. I could feel myself shivering under the pressure of speaking in front of all these people, un-dead or not. My muscles froze and a tiny squeak escaped me.

"Amy?" Lydia whispered.

"I don't think I can do this…" I rasped.

"Why not?" she asked, looking at me comfortingly.

I could feel my eyes widening at the sight of the ever growing crowd, the spiteful glares of the silver haired ghost, the boredom of the judge, the desperation of BJ…

"I've never told you guys this but… I get major stage-fright."

Zim cocked an eyebrow, "What is this 'stage-fright'? It is contagious!"

Dib rolled his eyes, "It means when you have a fear of talking in front of large groups of people, the size thing probably isn't helping much…"

"Dib-monkey, Zim asked if it was contagious!"

I shook my head, chewing my lip. Every electrical pulse in my brain was screaming at me to push forward and help BJ, but it was greatly outnumbered by every cell in my body turning to cement. GIR lifted his little metal hand to his head and started tapping my foot.

"Amy-cakes scared?"

"Um, yeah… Amy-cakes is very scared." I answered.

"Should I be scared with you?" he asked, a child-like innocents to his tone.

I smiled and bent down to stroke his fingers, "No GIR, you don't have to be scared."

"Okay!" he grinned.

God I wished I had brought my asthma pump or something, it was like I couldn't breathe, then again my inhaler would have probably made me explode if I dared use it now. I flinched as something soft and warm curved around me. I looked up and saw that Dib had cupped a hand around me and leant in close. I found myself nuzzling into his palm, seeking comfort away from the dozens of eyes staring at me. Dib smiled sheepishly.

"You know that one of us can go up instead, but I know you can do it. You never let me give up my paranormal studies, so I'm not going to let you give up when we're so close."

I folded my arms, "But there's so many people!"

"Then just look at the people you know, don't look at anyone else. Look at… you can look at, me, you know, if you... want…"

A small smiled twitched at the side of my mouth, he was acting more unsure of himself than I was. I took a deep breath and nodded, allowing him to retract his hand and return to his seat. Zim sighed and drummed his fingers on the desk.

"Is the Amy-beast going to get on with this or not?" he paused at the look of determination on my face and leered at me in what I presumed was a friendly gesture, "In it for the adventure once again?"

I nodded and returned the grin that Lydia was pointing at me. GIR giggled and took a few steps towards BJ. GIR was going to have to be my platform for the time being, but it was daunting, from my position on his head I could get a good view of everyone in the room. A cold sweat beaded at the back of my neck, but I took a breath and looked over my shoulder back at Dib, who gave me thumbs up. Lydia smiled appreciatively at me and I was positive that I even received a nod of approval from Zim, but to preserve his ego I pretended not to notice.

"Alright there babes? You had me a little worried." BJ smirked.

"I'm fine, but whatever happens, you have to go along with it, okay?"

He tilted his head to the side questioningly, but agreed nonetheless. The Judge clapped his gavel to the desk and announced that it was time for me to speak. A shiver came over me, but I forced myself to be composed, confident. I let my mind travel back to when I first met Dib and Zim, I was confident, cocky and determined, make me like that again. I will be like that again. Right now.

I took a breath, "Your honour, can you remind us what it is exactly that the accused had broken in terms of his contract?"

"The terms of his contract state that he is able to keep his powers on the terms that he never says his name, that was broken yesterday afternoon."

"Ah, but you see," GIR, acting as my legs picked the perfect moment to start pacing back and fore, "it says in the contract, multiple times, that the name must be said three times. True, he did say his name, but only the once."

Lydia got to her feet and handed the copy of the contract over to the Judge, he examined the parts underlined in red. He read it out loud.

"_If the name is repeated thrice aloud then the contract shall be broken,_" he looked at another segment, "_three times spoken…_"

"So you see, there is no crime and the contract still stands."

The Judge glared at me, along with the silver haired ghost, but I ignored it and focussed on the contract in front of them.

"Go on girl!" BJ cried with triumph.

One of the guards came over and strapped a metallic device over his mouth, stopping him from talking. I'd seen those around skool, Dib had been forced into one plenty a time. I shuddered, they were barbaric and horrible, I couldn't believe they used them here too. The theory of Ms. Bitters being a vampire, or if not, a Neitherworld dweller was becoming more and more possible…

"Ah, but what about this." The contractor asked, pointing and reading, "_the contract shall also be discontinued if the said signer reveals himself to a human_"

My jaw clenched, damn it I missed that bit out! "Well, Lydia has already been -"

"I am aware of the standing agreement between the Neitherworld and Miss. Deetz. I am however not aware of how the rest of you fit into the equation." He smirked devilishly.

I started to panic, I couldn't breathe. I looked back at the group in hopes that they had some plan. Lydia bit her lip, Zim was glaring at the ghost and Dib pinched his chin in thought. He had a glint in his eyes, I looked at him as he nodded his head towards Zim, mouthing something. I smiled, perfect.

"But you see, Sir," I strained the word, "We're not human."

There was a dramatic gasp from the audience that I desperately tried to ignore. The Judge looked down at me with his threatening eye in the most uncomfortable of questioning manners.

"Explain."

"If the contract says that he must not reveal himself to any human besides Lydia, then once again, there is no crime here. Look at my friend here for example." I tapped my foot against GIR's flat head, the echo making him giggle, "He's metallic, a robot. Not human."

The nodded, "Well, yes, but one cannot represent the rest of you."

"He's an alien!"

I span around to see Dib standing on his chair, a gleeful glint in his eye as he pointed at Zim. I bit my tongue not to laugh. Zim glared at him as he got to his feet.

"It's true, look at him" Dib cried, "He's green, he's got red eyes and he had little bug-thingies on his ugly green head! He's an alien!" Zim growled and produced his metallic spider legs from his PAK and pinned Dib to the ground with them, but still, Dib didn't stop, "See, what human can do that?"

The Judge hit his gavel again calling for order. I raised my eyebrows at him triumphantly. However, the Judge narrowed his eyes and folded his claws together.

"Okay young man, we will believe you, if you can explain how _you_ are not human."

Dib paled, "Excuse me?"

"If you are not human, than you are one step closer to freeing your friend. So child, what'll it be?"

Oh crap…

"Look at that head!" Zim cried, using his PAK legs to measure Dibs head, "No human could ever have a head that large!"

"My head's not big!"

"You see Halloweenie on law, he thinks it is normal! No human has a globe for a head and thinks it normal!"

Both Lydia and I smacked out palms to out heads in unison. We were doomed. No one in their right mind would ever buy that story! Sure, he had a big head, and from my point of view it looked a lot bigger, but that wasn't enough to make him appear inhuman. I'm so sorry BJ, I tried my best, we'll get you out, I promise. Oh wow, we were so doomed.

"Okay, that's a good point, moving on…"

My mouth hit the floor as the judge folded papers on his desk. Seriously, that worked?

"Oh come on!" Dib cried, throwing his arms in the air.

Another one of those mechanical devices that was keeping BJ from talking flew through the air and snapped around Dibs mouth, the force knocking him off his char. Zim cackled at the sight and ducked as once came flying towards him. He pointed in triumph but didn't see it turn back around and clamp around his mouth from behind. The two struggled, but were kept silent.

"Now, what about yourself? _Lawyer_." The silver haired ghost asked, leering at me.

I gulped, "Well, I'm… humans aren't this size and…" I was panicking again, it was oaky defending other people, but I couldn't do it for myself.

GIR raised his arm like a child in a classroom, "She's Amy-cakes! Amy-cakes ain't no human cuz she's mine!"

To prove a point he picked me up and clutched me to his chest, a smile pulling at his stitch-like mouth. When he was done, he replaced me back on his head, still looking up at the judge.

"I'm keeping my Amy-cakes!"

"It has a point…" said the judge, shrugging at the contractor.

Wait, that actually worked? How did that work? When has that ever worked before? Nevertheless, I wasn't about to argue.

I sighed with relief, "So you see, there has been no crimes. Both contracts still stand, so this whole thing has been a waste of time." I was pushing my luck, but I folded my arms and narrowed my eyes in triumph, "Was there anything else?"

The Judge grumbled and sighed in defeat, "Not guilty. Now get out."

The device was removed from BJ and he flew into the air, laughing manically with his new freedom. Lydia jumped out of her seat and ran to him, crushing him in a desperate embrace. I collapsed against GIR's antenna and tried to steady by breathing. That was too close.

"Point three to Amy-cakes?" GIR asked, grabbing me around the middle and holding me in front of his eyes.

I laughed, "Yeah, and ten points to you." I said, the big-sister in me taking over for a moment.

"YAY!" he cried, making my ears burn in pain.

BJ tousled my hair with his red-tipped finger, "Nice work babes, you had be worrying for a bit there! Let's get you back to normal so I can hug ya!"

"Not yet!" Dib called, grabbing BK by the wrist, a red ring around his mouth from the recently removed device, "If they see her in human size then we'll all going to be in trouble."

"The Dib-worm has a point. Can we leave now, the Halloweenies are swarming!" Zim darted his eyes at the many Neitherworld creatures that were roaming around the building, he too had a dark mark around his mouth.

Dib punched him in the arm, "That's for making fun of my head again!"

Zim returned the gesture by kicking him in the shin, "You are to expose the almighty Zim?"

"That's it!"

The two dived at one another, scrambling on the floor trying to outdo one another with their attacks. I smacked my palm to my face while GIR laughed manically. I looked up at Lydia and BJ through my fingers.

"Please… take us home…"


	11. Homeward Bound

Once Lydia had completed the chant, we were evaporated from the Neitherworld and suddenly appeared in the dark, shadowed bedroom of Lydia. Dib and Zim stopped battling for a moment to take in their new surroundings.

"Are we safe?" Dib asked cautiously.

"Safe? It's always safe when I'm around!" BJ grinned.

We all looked at him with what could only be described as un-amusement. He shrugged and looked down at me sheepishly.

"You sure you want to turn back?" he asked.

I folded my arms, "Yes, thank you."

"Right, gotta think of a good joke. Whoo, the pressures really on here! Let's see…"

"BJ!" we all groaned.

"Alright, alright, sheesh, _grow up_ will ya!"

I suddenly realised that I was still standing on GIR's head as the strange, crawling feeling scuttled beneath my skin. My eyes clenched shut as the sensation made me want to do a mixture of laughing and vomiting. As soon as the ground wasn't so far away, I chose to step off of GIR and onto the carpet. Suddenly, it stopped and everything was silent. I peeked one eye open and found that I was at eye lever with everyone. I grinned and lifted my arms into the air.

"Thank god for that!"

Lydia pulled me into a welcoming hug, "Glad to have you back."

"Awe, look at ya, seeing things eye to eye!"

Out of an involuntary reflex, me Dib and Zim clasped our hands over our eyes to protect them from whatever was going to happen next. However, it turns out that it was just BJ's eyes that popped out and glanced at one another before slotting back into their sockets. Zim huffed, glaring at me and folded his arms.

"What's up Zim?" I asked, nudging his shoulder, "Not happy with me being taller than you again?"

"You wait, female-beast, one day the amazing Zim shall out-height you all!"

"I'm looking forward to it." I grinned, pulling him into a reluctant hug on his part, he retched and tried to shove me away.

"DIB!" a seriously irritated voice cried from outside.

Dib flinched and opened the bedroom door to reveal his little sister. Gaz stormed into the room and grabbed her brother by the collar of his shirt.

"I've been waiting for hours for you to come home. It's family night tonight and if you aren't home by six o'clock, you will enter a realm of which there is no escape from suffering!"

"Gaz, I'm sorry, okay? But we got pulled into the Neitherworld and -"

"Really?" she gasped, almost looking interested, but it turned out to be false as she rolled her eyes, "Oh wait, I actually don't care…"

Zim laughed, "Excellent use of threat Gaz-worm! I may steal that at some point!"

Gaz turned on him, her eyes focusing on his stature with curiosity. I smirked to myself. I loved watching those two interact, it was fascinating and you could feel this tension in the air.

"I suppose it's your fault that he's always missing family night!" she spat, closing in on him.

He took a step back, eyes widening, "The trouble that the Dib-stink gets into is nothing to do with me! He causes his own problems, I just gain entertainment in watching is all."

She clenched her fists, "Your voice is irritating me."

Zim leaned in so that he was eye level with her, his eyes alight, "You irritate Zim!"

Dib rolled his eyes, he knew where this was going. Every time these two argued, Gaz always ended up punching Zim in the gut or nearly ripping our an antenna. He knew his sister well enough, she could handle herself. Lydia chewed her lip nervously at the pair of them. They were the perfect distance from one another that a fist was soon going to fly. But I had an idea.

"Hey, BJ," I whispered, "Pillow fight."

He looked at me questioningly, but smiled as he transformed into a black and white striped pillow. I took aim at Zim and threw it as hard as I could. The pillow hit Zim square at the back of his head. The force of the collision made him stumble forward and loose his balance. In his surprise his mouth opened to cry out in anger. However, any sound was blocked, for as he was knocked forward, the small distance between him and Gaz closed. His mouth landing perfectly on her lips.

BJ changed back and gave me a high five. Everyone else in the room was frozen. Dib let out a strangled grunt as his jaw hit the ground and his eyes bulged larger than his glasses. Gaz narrowed her eyes down on the green face that was pressed against hers threateningly, Zim widened his eyes in fear, but he couldn't bring himself to move just yet. GIR started hopping on the spot and giggling, pointing at the couple.

Finally, the pair broke apart, Zim grunting in an effort to wipe away any trace of the contact while Gaz casually rubbed the back of her hand against her mouth and the slowly, turned on me. A fire burning in her eyes. I gulped as Zim joined in the glare.

"Uh, Amy?" Lydia whispered, treating the couples reaction like an attacking animal.

"Run." Dib finished for her.

Needless to say that after my little stunt at matchmaking, I didn't get off very easily. Zim had pinned me to the floor with his PAK legs while Gaz had… I can't really say what Gaz did because I'm pretty sure my brain has turned it into a repressed memory. But Dib and Lydia managed to pull the two away from me and calm them down. Thankfully, the damage wasn't too great, and it was so worth it.

There was a time when Dib was walking me home when he mentioned his mother again, how he never got the chance to look for her. I caught him by surprise by grabbing his hand comfortingly. I promised him that I would help him find out about her, but I seriously doubted that she was in the Neitherworld. He agreed with me, but with a hint of reluctance. He grinned at me, I returned the gesture and we said out goodbyes at my door. I felt so sorry for him, but at the same time admired him too. He was so much stronger than he gave himself credit for…

In the next few days, things pretty much went back to normal… I'm sorry I couldn't even say that with a straight face! Well things went back to how they were before, as normal as they were going to get. Although, in a strange little turn, Gaz and Zim took extra care to avoid each other more than normal. Weird… However, one day while we were sitting in the cafeteria, Lydia appeared off her food and really quiet. Even BJ seemed to be more dead-looking than normal. Zim was the first to snap.

"Zim demands to know what makes the gloomy-looking human more… gloomy!" he pouted.

"Zim!" I warned, "Lyds, is everything okay?"

"Is it the Neitherworld again?" Dib asked, his eyes brightening.

She sighed and shook her head, "Well, you know that I said we moved here from the countryside?" she paused for us to nod, "Well, what I didn't say was that… it was only for a business trip for my dad. We're moving back home Saturday, tomorrow."

Dib coughed on his lunch, "Why didn't you say so?"

"Because I never planned on making friends so quickly! Plus, I didn't want to ruin the fun…"

BJ rolled his eyes, "It's not the end of the world babes, we can come and visit the BJ way!" he grinned.

I nodded, "And we could come and visit you in Zims ship if you like!"

Zim jarred, "Excuse me?"

"You're excused." Dib mumbled, receiving a sharp jab in the ribs from the invader.

Lydia regained part of a smile. It for the rest of the day, we tried to cheer her up as much as possible, even Zim became more laid back, which in the long run didn't help, his placid behaviour was just disturbing. After skool, we walked behind the building with her so that we could say goodbye before she poofed back home with BJ. Gaz, having to wait for Dib, joined us. Much to her and Zims obvious discomfort. I gave Lydia a friendly embrace.

"We'll come and wave you off tomorrow morning, okay?" I said, giving a hug to BJ too.

"Awe guys, you're gonna bring on the water-works!" he moaned, two faucets producing from his eyes and water running from them.

Dib gulped at the sighed and gave him a handshake instead, "Okay… Well, see you tomorrow."

We stood back as Lydia chanted, causing the pair to vanish from out sight. I looked at the group and shrugged.

"I can't believe they're going!"

"Yeah… wow, its gone quick…" Dib pointed out, shaking his head.

"Zim, you're not going to burn anything down again to stop them leaving are you?" I asked, remembering what had happened when we thought that I was going to be moving back to Wales.

He folded his arms, "Zim knows not what you are talking about! Anyway, the further the Halloweenies are from Zim, the better…" he shuddered.

Gaz started rummaging around in her back, glaring at me in particular. From a reflex, I took a step backwards. She pulled out a small box wrapped in a black ribbon.

"Do you mind telling me why you put this in my locker?" she asked poisonously.

"You're trying to set up that space-monster and my sister?" Dib looked horrified.

"I honestly haven't seen that before, I don't even know how to get in your locker." I answered honestly, however I didn't deny or confirm that I was trying to push the two together.

"Yes, you did, and you even had the nerve to sign it from Zim." She snapped, throwing it at me.

I caught it and read the label, "Gaz I swear, it wasn't me. Dib I've been with you all day, I can't get into anyone's locker!"

Dib nodded in agreement, "It's true… but, who put it there then?"

We all turned to face Zim, but he had vanished too. I smirked to myself at the tiny victory. I felt Gaz snatch the box from my hand and she began to hastily rush back in the direction of home. Dib and I exchanged a glance. Mine happy and knowing, his disgusted and fearful.

The next morning, I made my way over to Zims house and we walked to Lydia's together, GIR in his dog disguise at the end of a lead. I didn't mention the gift to him, which I'm sure he was silently grateful for, but how I wished he would admit to it, or at least say what was in it. Nevertheless, I held my tongue.

Lydia was already outside talking to Dib and Gaz by the time we got there. She grinned, and then I noticed that her spider badge was also grinning at us. The black and white stripes gave him away. BJ waved one of his long arms at us, much to Zims horror.

"We thought you weren't going to make it." Lydia smiled, throwing one of her bags into the car.

"Nah, they always keep in good time, right?" BJ winked, transforming into a pocket watch.

Gaz huffed at the lame visual gag.

"It's been great knowing you all, don't forget to come and visit, and we'll drop in from time to time if that's okay?" Lydia asked.

"Sure it is," Dib answered, "Finally, another one of my theories have turned out true! Watch out Big-Foot, I'm coming for you!" he turned to point in the direction of the woods that were way out of sight.

We all rolled out eyes. Behind her, Lydia's Dad and Step-mother called to her. They were ready to leave. I hugged her and BJ goodbye while the boys gave their awkward goodbyes. Gaz gave her a nod of acknowledgment and returned to her game. GIR jumped up and started nuzzling her, making little mumbled of affection. She placed him back down and started getting into the car.

"Remember, three times the charm!" BJ called.

"How could we forget?" Zim grumbled, folding his arms.

The door closed and the car drove off down the street, I remained waving even after they were out of sight. That night, I felt a little lonely. It was like a member of our messed up little group, dare I call it a family, was missing. I lay awake for ages, fighting the temptation to say the name. I wasn't sure how long it took me to get to sleep, but I was more than grateful when it came.

The next day, Sunday morning, was dragging by. There was some sort of commotion coming from outside, I wished they would shut up, I wasn't in the mood for arguing neighbours. But my ears pricked up at the sound of name calling, but not just any name calling. Only one person I knew would use the name 'space-boy' and only one person would reply with the term 'worm-baby'. I jumped out of my seat and ran out to the front garden. Over on Zims side of the fence, two figures were pointing at one another and narrowing their eyes in a death glare.

"Jeez I leave you two alone for one night!" I cried, "What's up this time?"

"I caught this large-headed Earth-pest sneaking into my base!"

"It's not sneaking, it's investigating, it's what I do!"

"You _do _a good job of infuriating Zim!"

"Oh wow, grow up!" I snapped.

The two looked at me surprised. Normally I would have just watched their arguments with amusement or tried to break it up by separating them, I'd never snapped at them like that before. But I really wasn't in the mood.

"Uh, are you okay?" Dib asked me, cautiously.

Zim laughed and folded his arms, "HA! The Amy-worm misses the other worm-female and her Halloweenie accomplice!"

"Clearly you do too if you came to the same assumption." I returned.

Dib smirked, "Awe, do you miss you're paranormal buddy, Zim?"

"Pfft, Don't be ridiculous, fool-Dib! Why would I miss that human or Beetlejuice?"

He gasped and clamped his gloved hands over his mouth, eyes darting in a panic. He said it, he said the name. A rush of adrenaline pulsed through me. I looked at Dib with excitement. He nodded and we said in unison.

"Beetlejuice."

Just one more time.

"No, Zim begs you NO!"

Suddenly GIR jumped out from the house and clamped himself to the back of Zims head. He took a breath and cried at the top of his little robotic voice.

"BEETLEJUICE!"

The End

-x-


End file.
